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US 11,141,193 B1Granted
Incising tool for easing childbirth and improving maternal healing and method of its use
OwnerWilliam Clayton Martin, Corby Wade Smithtoninventors
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Embodiments of pelvic floor muscle incising tool of this disclosure include a housing that provides an effective way to shoe-horn the tool and its surgical cutting blade into a precise location between a baby's head and the mother's pelvic floor muscles. The housing provides a duckbill shape that allows for precise placement of the blade to create the incision, protects the baby from the cutting blade (creating only a posterior incision in the vaginal canal), distributes forces applied by and to the baby's head, and allows for concealed extraction of the blade after the incision has been made.
Claims19
A pelvic floor muscle incising tool comprising:
- a surgical blade;
- a housing including an insertion end, an actuator end, and an exterior wall surface located between the ends, the housing narrowing in height toward the insertion end from the actuator end, a portion of the exterior wall surface located toward the actuator end including a plurality of spaced-apart annular ribs, another portion of the exterior wall surface located toward the insertion end including a curved section narrowing in width toward the insertion end and including a flat upper wall surface and a curved lower wall surface located opposite the flat wall surface, the curved lower wall surface including a blade opening contained between the insertion and actuator ends, each said upper and lower wall surfaces ending at the insertion end, the housing further containing a pair of alignment pins arranged transverse to a central longitudinal centerline of the housing;
- and
- a plunger housed by the housing and including a proximal end, a distal end, and a mount configured to retain the surgical blade located on the distal end, the proximal end of the plunger extending outward past the actuator end of the housing when in a fully retracted position, the plunger further including a retention pin and a pair alignment slots arranged parallel to the central longitudinal centerline of the housing and extending lengthwise, each of the alignment slots containing a respective alignment pin of the pair of alignment pins, the retention pin arranged transverse to a central longitudinal centerline of the plunger and coaxially aligned with one of the alignment slots,
- wherein when the plunger moves to a fully actuated position, the surgical blade is in an expressed state below the curved lower wall surface and the housing, wherein in the expressed state the surgical blade is proud of all surfaces of the curved lower wall surface extending from the blade opening, a distal end of the surgical blade being rearward of the insertion end of the housing.
2 more elements
A pelvic floor muscle incising tool comprising:
- a surgical cutting blade;
- a housing including an insertion end, an actuator end, and an exterior wall surface located between the ends, the housing narrowing in height toward the insertion end from the actuator end and forming a curved section toward the insertion end, a portion of the exterior wall surface of the curved section narrowing in width toward the insertion end and including a flat upper wall surface and a curved lower wall surface including a surgical cutting blade opening located opposite the flat upper wall surface, the curved lower wall surface being a pelvic floor muscle facing surface, said flat upper wall surface and said curved lower wall surface ending at the insertion end;
- a plunger housed by the housing and including a proximal end, a distal end, and a mount configured to retain the surgical cutting blade located on the distal end, proximal end of the plunger extending outward past the actuator end of the housing when in a fully retracted position;
- wherein when the plunger moves to a fully actuated position, the surgical cutting blade is in an expressed state below the curved wall surface and the housing, wherein in the expressed state the surgical blade is proud of all surfaces of the curved lower wall surface extending from the surgical cutting blade opening, a distal end of the surgical cutting blade being rearward of the insertion end of the housing;
- and wherein the flat upper wall surface shields an entire length of the surgical cutting blade when in the expressed state.
2 more elements
A pelvic floor muscle incising tool comprising:
- a surgical blade;
- a housing including an insertion end, an actuator end, and a curved section toward the insertion end;
- the curved section including an upper wall surface and a lower wall surface located opposite the upper wall surface, each said wall surface ending at the insertion end, the lower wall surface being a pelvic floor muscle facing surface and including a blade opening rearward of the insertion end;
- a plunger received by the housing and including a mount configured to retain a surgical blade;
- wherein when the plunger moves to a fully actuated position, the surgical blade is in an expressed state below the lower wall surface and the housing, wherein in the expressed state the surgical blade is proud of all surfaces of the curved lower wall surface extending from the surgical cutting blade opening, a distal end of the surgical blade being rearward of the insertion end.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.