Sealing holes in bony cranial anatomy using custom fabricated inserts
OwnerMark Levatichinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An apparatus and method to implant a seal in a skull base defect. The seal is implanted using apparatus with deployable elements which pass up the nasal cavity into the area of the sphenoid sinus where they deploy and expand into useful conformations. A disk is inserted through the skull base defect into an interior side of the skull at the base defect, with a stalk extending through the skull base defect. The stalk is held outward from the skull base defect, holding the disk against the interior side of the skull while a conical mold is filled with bone cement. Once the cement has cured, the apparatus is removed, leaving the insert in the skull with the stalk surrounded by a cone of bone cement, creating a water tight seal in said skull base defect.
Claims20
An injector for sealing a skull base defect in bony cranial anatomy, comprising:
- a) an elongated tubular cannula comprising:
- i) a body having a distal end and a proximal end, and a lumen extending axially from the distal end to the proximal end,
- ii) an expandable sheath on the distal end of the body, for creating a conical mold into which a compound can be injected;
- iii) a central member running through the lumen, being movable along a central axis of the lumen;
- and
- b) a plunger for pushing a compound through the lumen,
- such that operation of the plunger causes the compound to be injected from the distal end of the cannula into the conical mold formed by the expandable sheath.
A seal for sealing a skull base defect in bony cranial anatomy, comprising:
- a) a disk of flexible biocompatible material, for location on an interior side of the skull base defect;
- b) a rigid stalk of biocompatible material coupled to the disk of flexible biocompatible material, such that when the disk is inserted through the defect into the interior side of the skull base defect, the stalk extends proximally out through the defect in the bony anatomy, away from the disk;
- c) a plurality of strings attached to the disk of flexible biocompatible material, for extending with the stalk proximally out through the defect in the bony anatomy;
- and
- d) a cured compound surrounding the bony anatomy on interior and exterior sides of the skull base defect, encasing the stalk and the plurality of strings.
A method of sealing a skull base defect in bony cranial anatomy with a prefabricated insert comprising a disk of flexible biocompatible material and a rigid biocompatible stalk attached to the disk, the method comprising:
- a) inserting the disk of the prefabricated insert through the skull base defect into an interior side of the skull at the base defect, with the stalk extending through the skull base defect;
- b) holding the stalk of the prefabricated insert outward from the skull base defect, such that the disk is held against the interior side of the skull;
- c) surrounding the stalk of the prefabricated insert with a conical mold;
- d) filling the conical mold with a compound;
- e) retaining the conical mold until the compound cures;
- f) removing the conical mold, leaving the prefabricated insert in the skull with the stalk surrounded by a cone of cured compound, creating a water tight seal in the skull base defect.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.