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US 5,507,809 AGranted
Multi-valved voice prosthesis
AssigneeHansa Medical Products, Inc.
InventorEric D. Blom
Life of this patent
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AssigneeHansa Medical Products, Inc.
InventorEric D. Blom
Estimating the term…
A voice prosthesis includes a cylindrical body for placement in an opening formed in the tracheoesophageal wall. The body has a first end lying on the esophageal side of the tracheoesophageal wall when the prosthesis is placed in the opening and a second end lying on the tracheal side of the tracheoesophageal wall. The body provides a passageway for airflow from its second end to its first end to provide alaryngeal speech-producing airflow from the esophagus. A first backflow-preventing valve controls the passageway to prevent the flow of fluids from the esophagus through the passageway to the trachea. A second backflow preventing valve is provided in series with the first backflow-preventing valve to prevent flow of fluids from the esophagus through the passageway to the trachea in the event of incompetence of the first backflow-preventing valve in the open or partially open orientation.
In a voice prosthesis of the type including a cylindrical body for placement in an opening formed in the tracheoesophageal wall, said body having a first end lying on an esophageal side of said tracheoesophageal wall when said prosthesis is placed in said opening and a second end lying on a tracheal side of said tracheoesophageal wall when said prosthesis is placed in said opening, said body providing a passageway for airflow from said second end to said first end to provide alaryngeal speech-producing airflow from said esophagus, and a first backflow-preventing valve controlling said passageway to prevent flow of fluids from said esophagus through said passageway to said trachea, the improvement comprising a second backflow preventing valve in series with said first backflow-preventing valve to prevent flow of fluids from said esophagus through said passageway to said trachea in the event of failure of said first backflow-preventing valve.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.