APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR MAINTAINING PATENCY IN A VESSEL ADJACENT TO NEARBY SURGERY

• US 20180014956A1
• Filed: 07/13/2017
• Published: 01/18/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/13/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Boston Scientific Scimed, Inc. (Boston Scientific Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Boston Scientific Scimed, Inc. (Boston Scientific Corporation)
• Inventors: Horgan, Fergal, McNamara, Adrian, O'Gorman, Fionnuala
• Granted Patent: US 10,456,283 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2/2427 Devices for manipulating or deploying heart valves during implantation
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2/844 folded prior to deployment
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2/95 Instruments specially adapted for placement or removal of stents or stent-grafts
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2/9522 Means for mounting a stent or stent-graft onto or into a placement instrument
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2002/9528 for retrieval of stents
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2250/0003 having an inflatable pocket filled with fluid, e.g. liquid or gas
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 25/04 in the body, e.g. expansible A61M25/10, A61M16/0488 take precedence

Abstract

The disclosure pertains to an apparatus for maintaining patency within vessels in the vicinity of surgical procedures which might otherwise be compressed and partially or totally occluded and methods of use therefor.

Claims

1. An apparatus for maintaining patency of a non-occluded coronary artery during nearby surgery comprising:

a retrievable patency maintaining element having a first compact configuration and a second expanded configuration,

wherein in the second expanded configuration the retrievable patency maintaining element is sized and adapted to maintain patency of a non-occluded coronary artery while contacting opposed walls of the non-occluded coronary artery without significantly altering a diameter of the non-occluded coronary artery and

further wherein the retrievable patency maintaining element is configured and adapted to sufficiently resist external collapsing forces which may be applied to the non-occluded coronary artery during nearby surgery such that patency is maintained;

a steerable delivery catheter having a distal lumen sized and adapted to receive the retrievable patency maintaining element in the first compact configuration and to release the retrievable patency maintaining element within the non-occluded coronary artery; and

a retrieval mechanism for the retrievable patency maintaining element.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the retrievable patency maintaining element maintains a connection to the retrieval mechanism during the nearby surgery.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the retrievable patency maintaining element maintains a connection to the retrieval mechanism through at least one of a tether, an activation link, and an inflation tube.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the tether or the activation link is a suture, a braid, or a wire.

5. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the inflation tube includes a valve adapted to control flow of fluid during inflation, an implantation interval, and/or deflation of the retrievable patency maintaining element.

6. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the retrievable patency maintaining element is expanded from the first compact configuration to the second expanded configuration by at least one of relative motion between the tether and the steerable delivery catheter;

relative motion between the activation link and the steerable delivery catheter; and

introduction of a fluid through the inflation tube and a valve.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the retrievable patency maintaining element is self-expanding from the first compact configuration to the second expanded configuration.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the retrievable patency maintaining element is formed from a shape memory material.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the shape memory material is Nitinol.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the retrievable patency maintaining element is a balloon.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the retrievable patency maintaining element is a collapsible cage-like structure.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the steerable delivery catheter includes the retrieval mechanism for the retrievable patency maintaining element.

13. A method of preserving patency in a non-occluded coronary artery during nearby surgery comprising:

advancing a steerable delivery catheter having a retrievable patency maintaining element contained therein in a first compact configuration into an non-occluded coronary artery within a patient within which coronary artery patency is to be preserved;

deploying the retrievable patency maintaining element in the non-occluded coronary artery,

withdrawing the steerable delivery catheter a predetermined distance from the non-occluded coronary artery within which patency is to be preserved;

performing surgery nearby the non-occluded coronary artery within which patency is to be preserved;

retrieving the retrievable patency maintaining element from the non-occluded coronary artery using a retrieval mechanism for the retrievable patency maintaining element; and

removing the retrieval mechanism for the retrievable patency maintaining element from the patient.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the withdrawing step further includes maintaining a connection between the retrievable patency maintaining element and the steerable delivery catheter or a retrieval mechanism.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein maintaining a connection between the retrievable patency maintaining element and the steerable delivery catheter or a retrieval mechanism is through at least one of a tether, an activation link, and an inflation tube.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the tether or the activation link is a suture, a braid, or a wire.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the inflation tube includes a valve adapted to control flow of a fluid during inflation, an implantation interval, and/or deflation of the retrievable patency maintaining element.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the withdrawing step does not include maintaining contact between the retrievable patency maintaining element and the steerable delivery catheter or a retrieval mechanism.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the retrieving step includes advancing the retrieval mechanism along the connection between the retrievable patency maintaining element and the steerable delivery catheter or a retrieval mechanism.

20. The method of claim 13, wherein the retrieving step is performed without relying upon a connection between the retrievable patency maintaining element and the retrieval mechanism.