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AssigneeBlackstone Ultrasonic, Inc.
InventorsEugene A. DeCastro, Roger Goodfriend
Estimating the term…
An apparatus and method for machining or disintegrating a calculi in place in a urinary tract. The apparatus includes a flexible, hollow endoscope which can be inserted into a ureter in its flexible state and a relatively rigid hollow tube which can be inserted into a passageway through the endoscope to straighten it. Optionally, a guide wire can be inserted in the ureter to the position of the calculi before inserting the endoscope for guiding the endoscope into the ureter. The passageway through the endoscope is larger than the rigid hollow tube. An optical system that may be made up of optical fibers can be received in and extend through the endoscope to view the calculi. A wave guide wire can be extended through the relatively rigid tube and connected to a transducer to disintegrate the calculi. The relatively rigid tube can be moved laterally in the endoscope to bring the wave guide into engagement with the calculi to facilitate disintegrating the calculi. An irrigation means can be connected to the hollow endoscope. The endoscope can have several passageways.
An apparatus for machining and fragmenting urinary calculi in place and in a ureter, comprising a flexible ureteroscope, adapted to be inserted in a flexible state into said ureter to abut said urinary calculi to be fragmented, said ureteroscope having at least two substantially parallel lumens extending through said ureteroscope, an optical system in one of said lumens permitting optical observations lengthwise trough said ureteroscope, a solid wave guide extending lengthwise through another of said lumens of said ureteroscope, said solid wave guide having a lateral dimension less than the interior lateral dimension of said other lumen, ultrasonic means in operative relation to said wave guide and acting on said wave guide at one end to cause vibration at the other end, said optical system including a plurality of optical fibers forming an optical bundle and at least a part of said optical fibers being connected to a viewing means, the remaining optical fibers being connected to a light source.
A method of disintegrating urinary calculi under direct vision in a ureter comprising the steps of:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.