A surgical closure apparatus for facilitating closure of a wound includes anoutermember dimensioned for positioning within a wound opening and defining acentrallongitudinal axis, and having a first longitudinal passage and a secondlongitudinal passage, aneedle assembly at least partially disposed within the first longitudinalpassage of the outermember, and a suture configured for at least partially closing the woundopening andextending at least partially through the second longitudinal passage of theouter member. Theneedle assembly includes a needle drive and a suture needle mounted to theneedle drive andcoupled to the suture. The suture needle is adapted for rotational movementrelative to thecentral longitudinal axis between an unarmed condition and an armed conditionthroughmanipulation of the needle drive. The suture needle is positioned for passagethrough tissueadjacent the wound opening when in the armed condition.
