Expandable tissue dilator for dilating tissue around a spinal column
AssigneeGlobus Medical, Inc.
InventorsAndrew Berkowitz, Brian Flint
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 shaft having a proximal end and a distal end;
- an expandable balloon disposed on the distal end of the shaft, the balloon having a proximal neck region and a distal neck region and wherein the expandable balloon is configured to expand to a predetermined shape and dimension upon receiving a fluid;
- an inner tube disposed inside the shaft and attached to the expandable balloon at the distal neck region, wherein the inner tube is configured to receive a guidewire;
- an outer tube that at least partially surrounds the inner tube whereby a space is disposed in between the outer tube and the inner tube and wherein the outer tube is attached to expandable balloon at the proximal neck region;
- and
- a hub comprising an off-set chamber, wherein the off-set chamber is completely disposed inside the hub off-center from a longitudinal axis of the dilator without intersecting the guide wire,
- wherein the expandable balloon is configured to receive the fluid via the space between the inner tube and the outer tube.
An expandable tissue dilator for dilating tissue around a spinal column, comprising:
- a shaft having a proximal end and a distal end;
- an expandable balloon disposed on the distal end of the shaft, the balloon having a proximal neck region and a distal neck region and wherein the expandable balloon is configured to expand to a predetermined shape and dimension upon receiving a fluid;
- an inner tube disposed inside the shaft and attached to the expandable balloon at the distal neck region, wherein the inner tube is configured to receive a guidewire;
- an outer tube attached to the expandable balloon at the proximal neck region, wherein the outer tube is disposed in a manner surrounding the inner tube and providing a space for receiving the fluid for expanding the expandable balloon;
- a hub comprising an off-set chamber, wherein the off-set chamber is completely disposed inside the hub off-center from a longitudinal axis of the dilator without intersecting the guide wire,
- wherein the inner tube is comprised of an electrically conductive material and is configured to indicate the presence of a nerve as the expandable dilator traverses through soft tissue of a patient.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.