APPARATUS FOR ROTATING MEDICAL DEVICES, SYSTEMS INCLUDING THE APPARATUS, AND ASSOCIATED METHODS

• US 20120095447A1
• Filed: 10/19/2010
• Published: 04/19/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/19/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Minerva Surgical, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Occam Scientific, LLC
• Inventors: Fojtik, Shawn P.
• Granted Patent: US 8,845,621 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 604/528
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 17/320758 with a rotating cutting instrument, e.g. motor driven A61B17/320725, A61B17/32075 and A61B17/320783 take precedence; for removing intra-ocular material A61F9/00763; endoscopic rotatable cutting instruments A61B17/32002
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2010/045 Needles pointed biopsy devices with vacuum aspiration A61B10/0283
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/00469 for insertion of instruments, e.g. guide wire, optical fibre
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/22078 for rotating the instrument within a channel, e.g. an optical fibre
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/22094 for crossing total occlusions, i.e. piercing
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2025/09116 Design of handles or shafts or gripping surfaces thereof for manipulating guide wires
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 25/01 Introducing, guiding, advancing, emplacing or holding catheters A61M25/10 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 25/09041 Mechanisms for insertion of guide wires

Abstract

A rooter includes a rotatable element, an actuator for causing the rotatable element to rotate, and a coupling feature for rotatably coupling an elongate medical instrument to the rotatable element. The rotatable element may be at least partially contained within the interior of a housing or another element that remains substantially stationary as the actuator causes the rotatable element to rotate. The rooter may be used with a variety of elongate medical instruments, such as needles, drill bits, trocars, wires, catheters, tubes, and other elongate instruments that are used to enable or effect medical procedures within the body of a subject. The rooter may be used for a variety of purposes, including, without limitation, the introduction of an elongate medical instrument into the body of a subject or its removal from the subject'"'"'s body; removing, breaking up, or eliminating obstructions (e.g., blood clots, plaques, etc.) from the body of a subject; and obtaining samples from a subject'"'"'s body.

Claims

1. A rooter for manually spinning an elongate medical instrument, comprising:

a rotatable element including a rotation facilitator,

a coupling feature associated with the rotatable element for rotatably engaging an elongate medical instrument; and

an actuator that interacts with the rotation facilitator of the rotatable element for causing the rotatable element to rotate, the actuator being configured for manual operation.

2. The rooter of claim 1, further comprising:

a housing, the housing including an interior for receiving at least a portion of the actuator and at least an intermediate portion of the rotatable element in a manner that enables the rotatable element to rotate relative to the housing.

3. The rooter of claim 2, wherein the rotatable element is generally cylindrical.

4. The rooter of claim 3, wherein the rotation facilitator of the rotatable element comprises a helical element and the actuator is configured to be translated longitudinally along the rotatable element to cause the rotatable element to rotate.

5. The rooter of claim 4, wherein the rotation facilitator comprises a helical ridge protruding from a surface of the rotatable element.

6. The rooter of claim 4, comprising a conduit extending through a length of the rotatable element and communicating with a distal end and a proximal end of the rooter.

7. The rooter of claim 6, wherein the conduit is configured to receive a portion of an elongate medical instrument.

8. The rooter of claim 4, wherein the coupling feature is located adjacent to a distal portion of the rotatable element.

9. The rooter of claim 8, comprising at least one retention element for at least partially retaining the rotatable element longitudinally relative to the housing.

10. The rooter of claim 9, wherein the at least one retention element comprises the coupling feature.

11. A system for rotating an elongate medical instrument, comprising:

an elongate medical instrument including a distal end for insertion into the body of a subject and a proximal end;

a rooter configured for manual operation and including;

a rotatable element;

a coupling feature associated with the rotatable element and configured to rotatably engage a portion of the elongate medical instrument; and

an actuator that interacts with the rotatable element for causing the rotatable element to rotate.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the elongate medical instrument comprises at least one of a needle, a drill bit, a trocar, a wire, a catheter, and a tube.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the rotatable element is configured to receive at least a portion of the elongate medical instrument.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the rotatable element is configured to enable a proximal end of the elongate medical instrument to extend proximally beyond the rooter.

15. A method for using an elongate medical instrument, comprising:

rotatably coupling an elongate medical instrument to a rotatable element of a rooter; and

manually rotating the rotatable element of the rooter with at least a distal end of the rotatable element at least partially inserted into a body of a subject.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein manually rotating comprises oscillating the elongate medical instrument.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein manually rotating facilitates introduction of the distal end of the elongate medical instrument into the body of the subject or removal of the rotatable element from the body of the subject.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein manually rotating facilitates removal of obstructions from vasculature of the subject.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein manually rotating facilitates removal of a sample from the body of the subject.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein manually rotating is effected by holding the rooter within one hand and moving an actuator of the rotatable element with a finger or thumb of the one hand.