Medical grafting methods and apparatus
First Claim
1. An instrument for creating an aperture through a side wall of a patient'"'"'s tubular body organ structure at a point along that structure which is remote from the location at which the instrument is inserted into said tubular structure and from which the instrument is controlled comprising:
- an elongated guide structure longitudinally insertable into said tubular structure at said location and extendable along the interior of said tubular structure to said point; and
a longitudinal structure substantially aligned with and guided by said guide structure and longitudinally movable relative thereto, a distal portion of said longitudinal structure being adapted to penetrate said side wall when forced against said side wall by a sufficient amount of distal motion of said longitudinal structure relative to said guide structure;
wherein both the elongated guide structure and the longitudinal structure are deflectable toward the side wall at the remote point, and wherein the distal portion of the longitudinal structure is resiliently biased to deflect laterally toward the side wall when the distal portion of the longitudinal structure is released from guidance by the guide structure while a distal portion of the guide structure is substantially parallel to the tubular structure adjacent the remote point.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Methods and apparatus for delivering and installing a new length of tubing between two sections of a patient'"'"'s existing body organ tubing and at least partly outside of that existing structure. For example, the new length of tubing may be for the purpose of providing the patient with a coronary bypass. The new tubing may be an artificial graft, a natural graft (harvested elsewhere from the patient), or both. The new tubing is delivered to and installed at the operative site primarily by working through the patient'"'"'s existing tubular body organ structure. This avoids the need for any significant surgery on the patient. The artificial grafts may have shapes other than tubular. Certain procedural and apparatus aspects of the invention have uses other than in connection with grafting in general or tubular grafting in particular.
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Citations
27 Claims
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1. An instrument for creating an aperture through a side wall of a patient'"'"'s tubular body organ structure at a point along that structure which is remote from the location at which the instrument is inserted into said tubular structure and from which the instrument is controlled comprising:
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an elongated guide structure longitudinally insertable into said tubular structure at said location and extendable along the interior of said tubular structure to said point; and
a longitudinal structure substantially aligned with and guided by said guide structure and longitudinally movable relative thereto, a distal portion of said longitudinal structure being adapted to penetrate said side wall when forced against said side wall by a sufficient amount of distal motion of said longitudinal structure relative to said guide structure;
wherein both the elongated guide structure and the longitudinal structure are deflectable toward the side wall at the remote point, and wherein the distal portion of the longitudinal structure is resiliently biased to deflect laterally toward the side wall when the distal portion of the longitudinal structure is released from guidance by the guide structure while a distal portion of the guide structure is substantially parallel to the tubular structure adjacent the remote point. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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12-13. -13. (canceled)
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15. (canceled)
Specification