Methods and devices to treat nasal airways
AssigneeAerin Medical Inc.
InventorsScott J. Wolf, Andrew Frazier
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method is described for modifying at least one property of a tissue of or near a nasal valve of a nose, without using a surgical incision or an implant, to decrease airflow resistance or perceived airflow resistance in a nasal airway. The method may involve contacting a treatment element of a treatment device with the at least one tissue inside the nasal airway, with sufficient force to at least temporarily deform the at least one tissue, applying energy to, or removing energy from, the at least one tissue, using the treatment element, and removing the treatment element from the nostril.
Claims26
A method of modifying at least one property of at least one tissue of or near a nasal valve of a nose, without using a surgical incision or an implant, to decrease airflow resistance or perceived airflow resistance in a nasal airway, the method comprising:
- contacting an elongate treatment element of a treatment device with the at least one tissue inside the nasal airway, with sufficient force to at least temporarily deform the at least one tissue;
- applying energy to the at least one tissue by transmitting radio frequency energy from a first row of electrodes to a second row of electrodes disposed vertically on the elongate treatment element;
- and
- removing the elongate treatment element from the nostril.
A device for treating a patient's nasal airway by modifying at least one property of at least one tissue of or near a nasal valve of the airway, without using a surgical incision or an implant, to decrease airflow resistance or perceived airflow resistance in a nasal airway, the device comprising:
- an energy delivery member sized to be inserted into a nose and configured to deliver energy to tissues within the nose to modify the at least one property of the at least one tissue;
- comprising multiple protruding electrodes configured to at least temporarily deform nasal tissue;
- a shaft extending from the energy delivery member;
- and
- a handle attached to the shaft at an opposite end from the energy delivery member, wherein the handle includes a housing to hold a power source for providing energy to the energy delivery member,
- wherein the protruding electrodes comprise two rows of electrodes, wherein the energy delivery member comprises a bipolar radio frequency delivery member, and wherein radio frequency energy travels from one row of electrodes to the other row of electrodes.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.