AIRWAY ANCHOR SUTURE TO PREVENT AIRWAY STENT MIGRATION

• US 20110230974A1
• Filed: 03/09/2011
• Published: 09/22/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/17/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: National Jewish Health
• Original Assignee: National Jewish Health
• Inventors: MUSANI, Ali I.
• Granted Patent: US 8,512,414 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 623/23.7
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 17/0401 Suture anchors, buttons or pledgets, i.e. means for attaching sutures to bone, cartilage or soft tissue; Instruments for applying or removing suture anchors A61B17/0642 takes precedence; fixation devices for tendons or ligaments A61F2/0811
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/0406 Pledgets
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/0411 Instruments for removing suture anchors
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/0417 T-fasteners
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/0464 for soft tissue
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/0488 Instruments for applying suture clamps, clips or locks
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/06052 Needle-suture combinations in which a suture is extending inside a hollow tubular needle, e.g. over the entire length of the needle
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2/04 Hollow or tubular parts of organs, e.g. bladders, tracheae, bronchi or bile ducts A61F2/18, A61F2/20 take precedence; devices, other than stent-grafts, providing patency to, or preventing collapsing of, tubular structures of the body other than stent-grafts, e.g. stents A61F2/82; instruments specially adapted for placement or removal of stents or stent-grafts A61F2/95
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2002/046 Tracheae

Abstract

An airway stent with an integral suture anchor is used to prevent migration of the stent within the airway. The suture anchor is incorporated by percutaneous placement of a suture through the neck and into the stent. The distal end of the suture includes an anchor element to secure the suture to the stent. The opposite end of the suture is tensioned and held in place by a suture clamp and a pledget routed over the stent and placed against the neck. Airway stents such as tracheal stents are effective at maintaining airway patency however; a common complication is stent migration. The integral suture anchor provides a reliable, economical, and non-intrusive solution to stent migration.

Claims

1. In combination, an airway stent and an integral anchor, comprising:

a stent body having a cylindrical shape, and proximal and distal ends;

a suture anchor secured to said stent body, said suture anchor comprising a length of suture, a T-bar element secured to a distal end of the length of suture and said T-bar element placed within a hollow interior space of the stent body, and said length of suture extending through a wall of the stent body; and

a pad having an opening to receive the suture.

2. The combination, as claimed in claim 1, further including:

at least one clamp secured to the length of suture.

3. The combination, as claimed in claim 1, further including:

a washer placed over the length of suture and between the clamp and the pad.

4. The combination, as claimed in claim 1, wherein:

a proximal end of the length of suture is secured to the pad as by tying a knot in said proximal end.

5. The combination, as claimed in claim 1, further including:

a plurality of studs disposed on an exterior surface of said stent body and selectively spaced along said stent body for improving frictional engagement of the stent within the airway.

6. The combination, as claimed in claim 1, wherein:

the proximal and distal ends of the stent body extend substantially transversely to a length of the body.

7. A method of stabilizing an airway stent within the airway of a patient to prevent migration of the stent, said method comprising:

a. emplacing an airway stent within the airway of a patient;

b. providing an anchor suture having a length of suture and a T-bar element disposed at a distal end of the suture anchor;

c. loading the T-bar element within the open distal end of an introducer needle;

d. inserting the introducer needle through the neck of the patient and through the airway stent to dispose the T-bar element in an interior space within the stent;

e. deploying the T-bar element to thereby free the T-bar element from within the needle;

f. withdrawing the needle;

g. tightening the suture anchor so that the T-bar element contacts an interior surface of the stent;

h. placing a pad over the length of suture and moving the pad to contact the patient'"'"'s neck; and

i. securing a proximal end of the length of suture to the pad.

8. A method, as claimed in claim 7, further including:

placing at least one clamp on the length of suture to tension the length of suture.

9. A method, as claimed in claim 8, further including:

placing a washer over the length of suture between the clamp and the pad.

10. A method, as claimed in claim 7, wherein:

the proximal end of the length of suture is secured to the pad as by tying a knot in said proximal end.

11. A method, as claimed in claim 7, further including:

providing a plurality of studs on an exterior surface of said stent body and selectively spaced along said stent body for improving frictional engagement of the stent within the airway against a trachea of the patient.

12. A suture anchor especially adapted for anchoring an airway stent, said suture anchor comprising:

a length of flexible suture having proximal and distal ends;

a T-bar element secured to the distal end of the length of suture;

a pad having an opening to receive the length of suture; and

wherein said T-bar element is placed within a hollow interior space of the stent, and the proximal end of said length of suture extends through a wall of the stent and through the neck of a patient, and said paid is secured against a neck of a patient.

13. The anchor, as claimed in claim 12, further including:

at least one clamp secured to the length of suture.

14. The anchor, as claimed in claim 13, further including:

a washer placed over the length of suture and between the clamp and the pad.

15. The anchor, as claimed in claim 12, wherein:

the proximal end of said length of suture is secured to the pad as by tying a knot in the proximal end.