CORPOREAL FLUID CONTROL USING BISTABLE MAGNETIC DUCT VALVE

• US 3,731,670 A
• Filed: 05/03/1971
• Issued: 05/08/1973
• Est. Priority Date: 05/03/1971
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: James M. Loe
• Original Assignee: James M. Loe
• Inventors: Loe, James M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Truluck, Dalton L.
• Application Number:
  US05/139,711
• Time in Patent Office: 736 Days
• Field of Search: 128/1R,79,130,127,349,DIG.25,274 251/65
• US Class Current: 600/30
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2/0022 placed deep in the body opening occluding blood vessels by internal devices A61B17/12022
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 6/24 characterised by valve means
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 128/25 Artificial sphincters and devices for controlling urinary incontinence

Abstract

A binary duct valve comprising a tubular housing containing a magnetically sensitive closure member (e.g., a spheroid) small enough to move freely in said housing, and a pair of magnetized valve seats positioned at the respective ends of said housing, one seat having an aperture therethrough which is shaped to become sealed, thereby to occlude said housing when said closure member sits thereon, the other seat being shaped so that it does not occlude said housing, even when said closure member sits thereon. The valve is operated by directing the closure member to a selected seat by means of magnetic force from an external source. The valve may be used advantageously in conjunction with an extracorporeal magnetic source for binary control of fluid flow. Preferably a valve is mounted to both vasa deferentia or fallopian tubes to serve as a contraceptive or selective fertility control device, but it may also be mounted, inter alia, in the urethra for controlling urinary incontinence, in penile veins to selectively induce tumescence, or in any duct or tube in which fluid flow is to be controlled by means essentially entirely without said duct or tube.

Claims

1. A valve for use within a duct of an animal'"'"''"'"'s body, comprising:

(a) a tubular housing and (b) the following valve means within said housing;

(1) a closure member small enough to move freely in said housing and (2) a pair of valve seats mounted apart in said housing on opposite sides of said closure member, one of said valve seats being shaped to occlude said housing when said closure member sits thereon, the other of said valve seats being shaped so that it does not occlude said housing, even when said closure member sits thereon, both of said valve means being formed of a magnetically sensitive material, the magnetically sensitive material of at least one of said valve means also having magnetic retentive properties, characterized in that the spacing, shape, and size of said valve means are such that when said valve means which has magnetic retentive properties is magnetized, said closure member will remain stably on either of said valve seats in the absence of external influence, whereby said duct valve can be made to assume a stably open or a stably closed condition.

2. The valve of claim 1 further comprising means, external to said housing, for selectively providing magnetic force within said housing to urge said closure member to or from a selected one of said seats.

3. The valve of claim 1 further including a permanent magnet, external to said housing, which can be manually manipulated to urge said closure member to either one of said seats.

4. The valve of claim 1 wherein said closure member is spherical in shape, said one of said seats is annular in shape and has a concave depression therein terminating in a circular opening which becomes substantially completely occluded when said closure member sits thereon, the other of said seats comprising a plurality of slots around which fluid can pass when said closure member sits thereon.

5. The valve of claim 1 wherein said housing has an outer diameter of about 0.045 inch and wherein the surfaces of said housing, said two active means, and said closure member are formed of materials whiCh are substantially stable in the presence of animal body fluids, whereby said valve can be implanted in a vas deferens for selective control of male fertility.

6. The valve of claim 5 wherein said housing contains a plurality of spaced sealing rings on the outer surface thereof, each of said rings comprising an integral protrusion of said housing which extends around the periphery of said housing.

7. The valve of claim 1 further including a pair of elongated flexible members attached to the respective ends of said housing, thereby to provide means for more stably retaining said valve in a duct of an animal'"'"''"'"'s body and providing for an improved fluid tight seal between the outer periphery of said housing and the inner surface of said duct.

8. The valve of claim 1 wherein said closure member has said magnetic retentive properties and is permanently magnetized.

9. The valve of claim 1 wherein said pair of valve seats have said magnetic retentive properties and are permanently magnetized.

10. A method for selectively allowing or preventing the flow of fluid within a duct of an animal'"'"''"'"'s body, comprising the following steps:

a. implanting, in said duct, bistable valve means having two states which are stable in the absence of external influence and respectively prevent or allow the flow of fluid within said duct, said valve means being arranged to change its stable state when a predetermined force, of which said duct is transmissive, is directed thereat, and b. selectively transmitting said predetermined force at said valve means via a wall of said duct in order to change the state of said valve means.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein said predetermined force is selectively provided from a source external to said body.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein said valve means is implanted in a vas deferens, thereby to control male fertility.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein said valve means is implanted in a fallopian tube, thereby to control female fertility.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein said valve means is implanted in a urethra, thereby to control urine flow.

15. The method of claim 11 wherein said valve means is implanted in a penile vein, thereby to control male tumescence.

16. The method of claim 11 wherein said implanting comprises longitudinally incising said duct, inserting in said duct a cylindrically shaped version of said valve means, and closing the resultant incision.

17. The method of claim 10 wherein said implanting comprises puncturing said duct and inserting said valve in said duct via the resulting puncture.

18. The method of claim 10 wherein said predetermined force is a magnetic field of a predetermined orientation and strength and wherein said selectively transmitting comprises directing said magnetic field at said valve means via a wall of said duct.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein said implanting comprises inserting in said duct a valve means which comprises a tubular housing, a magnetically sensitive closure member small enough to move freely in said housing, and a pair of permanently magnetized valve seats spaced apart in said housing on opposite sides of said closure member, one of said seats being shaped to occlude said housing when said closure member sits thereon, and the other of said seats being shaped so that it does not occlude said housing even when said closure member sits thereon.

20. The method of claim 18 wherein said magnetic field is provided by placing a permanent magnet adjacent an outside wall of said duct near one end of said valve means and moving said magnet along said outside wall of said duct toward an opposite end of said valve means.

21. In a valve of the type for use within a duct of an animal'"'"''"'"'s body and comprising a pair of spaced seat means, each emissive of a magnetic field, and a magnetically sensitive closure member positioned between said seat means and capable of moving from either of said seat means to the other, one of said seat means being occluding and the other non-occluding when said closure member sits thereon, the improvement wherein said seat means are arranged such that when said closure member sits on either of said seat means, the magnetic field from the other seat means is insufficient to overcome the magnetic attraction exerted by said one seat means for said closure member, whereby said duct valve has bistability.

22. The duct valve of claim 21 wherein said seat means each comprises a permanent magnet having North and South poles and said closure member comprises a magnetically non-retentive member arranged to complete a magnetic path between said poles when it sits on either of said seats.

23. The duct valve of claim 22 wherein said closure member is spherical and the surface of each of said seat means facing said closure member has a conical depression.

24. The duct valve of claim 23 wherein said occluding seat means has a nonmagnetic insert adjacent the surface thereof facing said closure member and is solid except for an axial hole therethrough of smaller diameter than said closure member and said non-occluding seat means is completely bifurcated by a slot therethrough, except for a joinder portion at the center thereof.