Stiff snoring implant
AssigneePi Medical, Inc.
InventorsTimothy R. Conrad, Mark B. Knudson, Jerry C. Griffin
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for treating snoring of a patient includes providing an implant for altering a dynamic response of a soft palate of the patient to airflow past the soft palate. The implant is embedded in the soft palate to alter the dynamic response. For example, the implant has a mass, stiffness or dampening sufficient to alter the dynamic response following the implantation without substantially impairing a function of the soft palate to close a nasal passage of the patient during swallowing.
Claims19
A method for treating snoring of a patient, said method comprising:
- providing an implant for altering a dynamic response of a soft palate of said patient to air flow past said soft palate;
- and
- implanting said implant into said soft palate to alter said dynamic response.
An apparatus for treating snoring of a patient suffering from snoring attributable, at in least in part, to a snoring sound generated by oscillation of a soft palate of said patient in response to airflow past said soft palate and where said soft palate has a characteristic dynamic response to said airflow prior to treatment, said apparatus comprising:
- an implant of bio-compatible material sized to be embedded within said soft palate;
- and
- said implant having a mass sufficient to alter said dynamic response following implanting of said implant into said soft palate without substantially impairing a function of said soft palate to close a nasal passage of said patient from a pharynx of said patient during swallowing.
An apparatus for treating snoring of a patient suffering from snoring attributable, at in least in part, to a snoring sound generated by oscillation of a soft palate of said patient in response to airflow past said soft palate and where said soft palate has a characteristic dynamic response to said airflow prior to treatment, said apparatus comprising:
- an implant of bio-compatible material sized to be embedded within said soft palate;
- and
- said implant having a stiffness to stiffen said soft palate after implantation to alter said dynamic response without substantially impairing a function of said soft palate to close a nasal passage of said patient from a pharynx of said patient during swallowing.
An apparatus for treating snoring of a patient suffering from snoring attributable, at in least in part, to a snoring sound generated by oscillation of a soft palate of said patient in response to airflow past said soft palate and where said soft palate has a characteristic dynamic response to said airflow prior to treatment, said apparatus comprising:
- an implant of bio-compatible material sized to be embedded within said soft palate;
- and
- said implant being configured to expand a geometry of the soft palate by an amount sufficient to alter an aerodynamic response to airflow over the soft palate without substantially impairing a function of said soft palate to close a nasal passage of said patient from a pharynx of said patient during swallowing.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.