Thermally activated pessary
AssigneeBeth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Inc.
InventorsMallika Anand, Ara Nazarian
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system, method, and apparatus to insert and remove a thermally activated vaginal pessary (102), by employing a nitinol core material that is integrated into the construction of the thermally activated vaginal pessary and configured to increase in radial size upon contact with body temperature by undergoing a configurational phase change in the underlying nitinol core material.
Claims55
A vaginal pessary device comprising:
- a pessary including a thermally actuated shape memory material having a first configuration at a first temperature and a second configuration at a second temperature, the second temperature conforming to a body temperature of a patient, the pessary including an outer surface to contact tissue wherein the first configuration has a first radius and the second configuration has a second radius larger than the first radius.
9-11. (canceled)
(canceled)
(canceled)
(canceled)
(canceled)
(canceled)
A method of inserting a vaginal pessary comprising:
- cooling a shape memory material of the vaginal pessary to reduce a temperature of one or more core elements of the vaginal pessary;
- and
- inserting the cooled vaginal pessary into a position upon a surface of a vaginal wall of a body such that the temperature of the vaginal pessary increases to a body temperature wherein the core elements change configuration in response to the increase in temperature and thereby immobilize the vaginal pessary relative to the vaginal wall.
(canceled)
(canceled)
A vaginal pessary system comprising:
- a vaginal pessary, including:
- an outer surface comprising a biocompatible material, and
- an inner core comprising a shape-memory alloy;
- and
- an applicator device including a cooling element and a clamp.
(canceled)
47-50. (canceled)
52-59. (canceled)
A vaginal pessary device comprising:
- a shape memory material having a first configuration at a first temperature and a second configuration at a second temperature, the second temperature conforming to a body temperature of a patient, the pessary device including an outer surface to contact tissue wherein the first configuration has a first radius and the second configuration has a second radius larger than the first radius;
- and
- a sensor to detect a condition of the pessary device.
63-66. (canceled)
(canceled)
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.