Methods and Apparatus for Temporarily Occluding Body Lumens
AssigneeFossa Medical, Inc.
InventorGloria R. Kolb
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Methods and apparatus are provided for temporarily occluding a body lumen. A method in accordance with one or more embodiments of the invention includes introducing a tip of a catheter into the body lumen, the tip including a central longitudinal axis; expelling a thermosensitive polymer from the tip of the catheter into a portion of the body lumen, with at least a portion of the thermosensitive polymer being expelled from the tip in a direction generally radially outward from the central longitudinal axis to improve adherence of the thermosensitive polymer to a wall defining the body lumen; and at least partially withdrawing the tip from the body lumen and allowing the thermosensitive polymer to harden as it warms to body temperature to form a plug in the body lumen.
Claims24
A method for temporarily occluding a body lumen, comprising the steps of:
- introducing a tip of a catheter into the body lumen, the tip including a central longitudinal axis;
- expelling a thermosensitive polymer from the tip of the catheter into a portion of the body lumen, with at least a portion of the thermosensitive polymer being expelled from the tip in a direction generally radially outward from the central longitudinal axis to improve adherence of the thermosensitive polymer to a wall defining the body lumen;
- and
- at least partially withdrawing the tip from the body lumen and allowing the thermosensitive polymer to harden as it warms to body temperature to form a plug in the body lumen.
An apparatus for temporarily occluding a body lumen, comprising:
- a catheter including a tip at one end thereof, the tip being insertable into the body lumen, the tip including a central longitudinal axis;
- and
- a mechanism connected to the catheter and operable by a user for expelling a thermosensitive polymer from the tip of the catheter into a portion of the body lumen;
- wherein the tip includes one or more openings at a side thereof to allow at least a portion of the thermosensitive polymer to be expelled from the tip in a generally radially outward direction from the central longitudinal axis to improve adherence of the thermosensitive polymer to a wall defining the body lumen, the thermosensitive polymer capable of hardening as it warms to body temperature to form a plug in the body lumen.
An apparatus for temporarily occluding a body lumen, comprising:
- a catheter including a tip at one end thereof, the tip being insertable into the body lumen, the tip including a central longitudinal axis;
- and
- means connected to the catheter and operable by a user for expelling a thermosensitive polymer from the tip of the catheter into a portion of the body lumen such that at least a portion of the thermosensitive polymer is expelled from the tip in a direction generally radially outward from the central longitudinal axis to improve adherence of the thermosensitive polymer to a wall defining the body lumen, the thermosensitive polymer capable of hardening as it warms to body temperature to form a plug in the body lumen.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.