Magnetic Devices for Digestive Tract Partitioning

A method for partitioning a hollow organ of a digestive tract of a patient, the method comprising the steps of:

• inserting a leading elongated member and a magnet assembly of a partitioning device into an abdominal cavity of the patient, the leading elongated member extending from a leading end of the magnet assembly and the magnet assembly comprising a plurality of magnet elements flexibly connected in series;
• guiding the leading elongated member to position the magnet assembly extraluminally around at least a portion of an outer surface of the hollow organ such that an anterior portion of the magnet assembly and a posterior portion of the magnet assembly face each other;
• magnetically coupling opposite magnet elements along a partitioning line to compress opposite walls of the hollow organ therebetween;
• allowing the opposite walls of the hollow organ to fuse together while the magnet elements are magnetically coupled together.

A method for partitioning a hollow organ of a digestive tract of a patient, the method comprising the steps of:

• inserting a magnet assembly of a partitioning device into an abdominal cavity of the patient, the magnet assembly comprising:
• a plurality of magnet elements flexibly connected in series;
• a housing comprising an organ-contacting side and being configured to receive the plurality of magnet elements therein;
• positioning the magnet assembly extraluminally around at least a portion of an outer surface of the hollow organ and along a partitioning line such that an anterior portion of the organ-contacting side and a posterior portion of the organ-contacting side face each other;
• magnetically coupling opposite magnet elements together to compress opposite walls of the hollow organ between the anterior and the posterior portions of the organ-contacting side of the housing;
• and
• allowing the opposite walls of the hollow organ to fuse together while the magnet elements remain magnetically coupled.