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US 10,369,336 B2Granted
Expandable tissue dilator for dilating tissue around a spinal column
AssigneeGlobus Medical, Inc.
InventorAndrew Berkowitz
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An expandable tissue dilator for dilating tissue around a spinal column includes a housing and a shaft at least partially positioned distally of the housing and adapted to pierce a tissue around the spinal column. An expandable member attached to the housing expands around a portion of the shaft to dilate the pierced tissue in a single-pass dilation resulting in a reduction of any traumatic impingement of nerves or muscle tissue and reduction in procedure time.
Claims18
An expandable tissue dilator for dilating tissue around a spinal column, comprising:
- a housing;
- a shaft adapted to be at least partially disposed distally of the housing and sufficiently stiff to pierce a tissue disposed around the spinal column;
- an expandable member attached to the housing and adapted to be expandable around a portion of the shaft which has pierced the tissue, the expandable member further comprising an inflation channel and an occlusion switch disposed in a proximal section of the housing and operable to occlude the inflation channel;
- and
- an occluding ball disposed over an inflation channel, wherein the occlusion switch has an inclined inner surface relative to a longitudinal axis of the inflation channel and is adapted to slide over the occluding ball such that the inner surface presses on the occluding ball to occlude the inflation channel.
2 more elements
An expandable tissue dilator for performing spinal surgery, comprising:
- an elongate housing;
- an inner sheath at least partially disposed in the housing and having a distal portion that extends distally of the housing, the inner sheath being sufficiently stiff to pierce a muscle tissue around a spinal column;
- an expandable member attached around an outer surface of the inner sheath and being expandable to radially push the pierced muscle tissue, the expandable member further comprising an inflation lumen and an occlusion switch disposed in a proximal section of the housing and operable to occlude the inflation lumen;
- and
- an occluding ball disposed over an inflation lumen, wherein the occlusion switch has an inclined inner surface relative to a longitudinal axis of the inflation lumen and is adapted to slide over the occluding ball such that the inner surface presses on the occluding ball to occlude the inflation lumen;
- and
- a retractable outer sheath surrounding the inner sheath and configured to be in an extended state to surround the expandable member and a retracted state to expose the expandable member for expansion against the pierced muscle tissue.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.