Back to results
US 12,496,213 B2Granted
Thermally activated pessary
AssigneeBeth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Inc.
InventorsMallika Anand, Ara Nazarian
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system, method, and apparatus to insert and remove a thermally activated vaginal pessary, by employing a nitinol core material that is integrated into the construction of the thermally activated vaginal pessary and configured to increase in radial size upon contact with body temperature by undergoing a configurational phase change in the underlying nitinol core material.
Claims20
A thermally actuated vaginal pessary comprising:
- an applicator device that comprises a cooling element and a clamp having a pair of arms;
- an outer surface of the vaginal pessary comprised of a biocompatible material and configured in a hemi-cylindrical shape such that the pair of arms are configured to contact the vaginal pessary to cool and radially compress the vaginal pessary for placement within, or removal from, a vagina of a body wherein the outer surface of the vaginal pessary extends along a long axis to contact surfaces of the vaginal wall to treat prolapse of surrounding tissue;
- and
- an inner core of the vaginal pessary having a plurality of aligned ribs comprised of a shape-memory alloy wherein the cooled vaginal pessary is configured to increase in radial size in response to a warmer body temperature.
1 more element
A thermally actuated vaginal pessary comprising:
- a vaginal pessary having an outer surface of a biocompatible material with a hemi-cylindrical shape that is configured to radially compress for manual placement in, or removal from, a vagina of a body;
- and
- wherein the vaginal pessary has an inner core supporting the biocompatible material, the inner core having the hemi-cylindrical shape with a plurality of aligned and spatially separated ribs that comprise a shape-memory alloy wherein the ribs are configured to contract in a radial direction at a cooling temperature and expand in a radial direction at a warmer body temperature to treat prolapse of surrounding tissue.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.