Otological surgery under perfluorocarbon liquids
AssigneeAlcon Inc.
InventorPaul R. Hallen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Certain embodiments described herein provide a method of performing an otological surgical procedure including surgically accessing a middle ear, injecting a perfluorocarbon liquid into the middle ear, and suctioning the isolated blood from the middle ear without removing the perfluorocarbon liquid. The perfluorocarbon liquid is immiscible with blood for isolating blood in the middle ear from the perfluorocarbon liquid. In certain embodiments, the perfluorocarbon liquid has a specific gravity greater than blood to apply positive pressure to surrounding tissues. In certain embodiments, the method includes suctioning the perfluorocarbon liquid from the middle ear after the isolated blood is removed.
Claims17
A method of performing a medial tympanoplasty surgical procedure, comprising:
- surgically accessing a middle ear by making an incision in a wall of an ear canal;
- raising a skin flap along the incision to enter the middle ear;
- injecting a perfluorocarbon liquid into the middle ear, the perfluorocarbon liquid is immiscible with blood for isolating blood, in the middle ear from the incision, from the perfluorocarbon liquid;
- and
- suctioning the isolated blood from the middle ear without removing the perfluorocarbon liquid.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.