Pressure feedback access ports for minimally invasive surgery
OwnerBrandon Wesley Craft, Fiona Middlemiss Haig +3inventors
InventorsBrandon Wesley Craft, Fiona Middlemiss Haig, Nicholas John Collier, Charlotte Adele Clark, Cormac O'Prey
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Abstract
A surgical access port configured and dimensioned for positioning within an opening in tissue for providing access to an internal surgical site includes a body portion defining a passageway therethrough. The body portion includes an outer surface. A pressure feedback indicator is disposed on at least a portion of the outer surface of the body portion. The pressure feedback indicator is configured for providing a visual indication to a user where an applied pressure is greater than a predetermined threshold.
Claims20
A surgical access port configured and dimensioned for positioning within an opening in tissue for providing access to an internal surgical site, the surgical access port comprising:
- a body portion defining a passageway therethrough and including an outer surface;
- and
- a pressure feedback indicator on at least a portion of the outer surface of the body portion, the pressure feedback indicator configured for providing a visual indication to a user where an applied pressure to the body portion is greater than a predetermined threshold.
A surgical access port configured and dimensioned for positioning within an opening in tissue for providing access to an internal surgical site, the surgical access port comprising a body portion defining a passageway therethrough and having a proximal region and a distal region, the body portion extending through the opening in tissue and including a pressure feedback indicator, the pressure feedback indicator providing an indication to the user of a change in pressure on the body portion.
A method of facilitating access to an internal surgical site beneath a patient's tissue comprising the steps of:
- forming an opening in the patient's tissue;
- advancing an access port through the opening, the access port defining a passageway therethrough and including a pressure feedback indicator on at least a portion of the outer surface thereof, the pressure feedback indicator configured for providing a visual indication as to the location on the outer surface where an applied pressure is greater than a pre-determined threshold;
- beginning a surgical procedure within the internal surgical site via the passageway defined within the access port;
- observing the visual indication as to the location on the outer surface where the applied pressure is greater than the predetermined threshold;
- and
- modifying the surgical procedure according to the observed visual indication to reduce the applied pressure at the location on the outer surface to a pressure less than the predetermined threshold.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.