Percutaneous carpal tunnel plasty method
OwnerJ. Lee Bergerinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Nerve entrapment such as Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is relieved by a surgical procedure for increasing the spatial diameter of the tunnel enclosing the nerve, which involves inserting a protected balloon catheter into the tunnel and serially inflating and deflating the catheter while moving it along the tunnel from one end to the other.
Claims32
A surgical procedure for relieving nerve entrapment syndrome by increasing the spatial diameter of the carpal tunnel enclosing the nerve comprising making an incision through the skin subcutaneous tissue proximate the .entrapped nerve, retracting the incision, inserting a director means for protecting the nerve and underlying structure into said incision, inserting a deflated balloon catheter by means of said director means through said incision into said tunnel along with means for monitoring pressure in said tunnel, serially inflating and deflating said balloon catheter while intermittently moving it along the tunnel and continuously monitoring the pressure therein to thereby increase the diameter of the tunnel, deflating and removing said catheter, and director means from said incision and closing the incision.
A surgical procedure for decompressing the median nerve in the carpal tunnel by increasing the spatial diameter of the carpal tunnel enclosing the median nerve which comprises making an incision through the skin and subcutaneous tissue proximate the median nerve, retracting the incision, identifying the proximal portion of the transverse carpal ligament, inserting a grooved director means for protecting the nerve and carpal ligament into said incision, inserting a deflated balloon catheter by means of said director means through said incision along with pressure monitoring means underneath the transverse carpal ligament to the most distal end thereof;
- injecting a fluid into said balloon catheter and serially inflating and deflating said catheter while intermittantly moving it along said carpal tunnel from distal to proximal end and continuously monitoring the pressure therein thereby stretching the transverse carpal ligament, deflating and removing said catheter, director means and pressure monitoring means from said incision and closing the incision.
A surgical procedure for relieving nerve entrapment syndrome by increasing the spatial diameter of the carpal tunnel enclosing the median nerve, comprising the steps of:
- making an incision through the skin;
- inserting a surgical instrument into the incision, the instrument including an expandable member;
- advancing the instrument within the incision such that the expandable member is positioned adjacent the transverse carpal ligament;
- expanding the expandable member of the instrument such that the expandable member engages and stretches the transverse carpal ligament while avoiding contact of the expandable member with the median nerve to relieve pressure on the median nerve;
- and
- removing the instrument from the incision leaving the transverse carpal ligament in a stretched condition.
A surgical procedure for treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome by relieving pressure on the median nerve by the transverse carpal ligament, comprising the steps of:
- making an incision through the skin;
- inserting through the incision an instrument having an expandable balloon and placing the instrument such that the balloon is positioned adjacent the transverse carpal ligament;
- treating the symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome by injecting a fluid into the balloon to expand the balloon against the transverse carpal ligament to stretch the transverse carpal ligment to a stretched condition thereby relieving pressure on the median nerve;
- and
- removing the instrument from the incision leaving the transverse carpal ligment in the stretched condition.
A surgical procedure for treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome caused by compression of the median nerve by the transverse carpal ligament, comprising the steps of:
- surgically accessing the transverse carpal ligament;
- and
- alleviating the symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome by performing a treatment on the transverse carpal ligament consisting essentially of the step of stretching the transverse carpal ligament to relieve pressure on the median nerve.
A surgical procedure for treating carpal tunnel syndrome by stretching the transverse carpal ligament to relieve pressure on the median nerve by the transverse carpal ligament, comprising the steps of:
- making an incision through the skin;
- inserting a balloon catheter through the incision and positioning the balloon of the balloon catheter adjacent the transverse carpal ligament;
- inflating the balloon of the balloon catheter to dilate at least a portion of the carpal ligament to increase the spatial diameter of the carpal tunnel to relieve compression of the median nerve wherein the step of inflating is in and of itself sufficient to relieve pressure on the median nerve to treat carpal tunnel syndrome;
- and
- removing the balloon catheter after dilation of the transverse carpal
- ligament leaving the carpal tunnel dilated.
A surgical procedure for relieving nerve entrapment syndrome by increasing the spatial diameter of the carpal tunnel enclosing the median nerve, comprising the steps of:
- making an incision through the skin;
- inserting a surgical instrument into the incision, the instrument including an inflatable member;
- advancing the instrument within the incision such that the inflatable member is positioned adjacent the transverse carpal ligament;
- serially inflating and deflating the inflatable member to stretch the transverse carpal ligament to relieve pressure on the median nerve;
- and
- removing the instrument from the incision.
A surgical procedure for treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome caused by compression of the median nerve by the transverse carpal ligament, comprising the steps of:
- surgically accessing the transverse carpal ligament;
- and
- stretching the transverse carpal ligament to relieve pressure on the median nerve thereby alleviating the symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome without performing any other treatment on the transverse carpal ligament for relieving pressure on the median nerve.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.