Anti-fertility device

• US 3,911,911 A
• Filed: 03/27/1974
• Issued: 10/14/1975
• Est. Priority Date: 06/16/1969
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Humana Hospital Illinois, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Antonio Scommegna
• Inventors: Scommegna, Antonio
• Primary Examiner(s): Medbery, Aldrich F.
• Application Number:
  US05/455,187
• Time in Patent Office: 566 Days
• Field of Search: 128/130,127-129,131,260,272 424/14,19,22
• US Class Current: 128/833
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 6/142 Wirelike structures, e.g. loops, rings, spirals

Abstract

An anti-fertility device is provided which suppresses fertility by slow release of a progestin within the uterine cavity over an extended period of time. Specifically, the device includes a progestin-containing capsule comprising a tube having a partially permeable wall, the capsule being attached to an intrauterine device, or being an integral part of an intrauterine device.

Claims

1. A means for fertility control in a woman without suppressing ovulation comprising an intrauterinE device comprising at least one hollow capsule containing a progestin within a partially permeable wall which permits release of said progestin therethrough at a rate not higher than about 900 micrograms per day, said device being made of at least one structural member coupled with said capsule and having a length many times greater than its cross-sectional width and thickness, said device having a stable external configuration prior to insertion into the uterus wherein both the width dimension and the longitudinal dimension of the device are greater than the cross-sectional thickness of any of said structural members and of a size great enough to be retained in the human uterine cavity, said device including means for permitting resilient change from said stable configuration to an unstable configuration of reduced width for insertion into the human uterine cavity.

2. The device of claim 1 wherein said progestin is progesterone.

3. The device of claim 1 wherein said capsule is a tubular capsule made of a silicone elastomer.

4. The device of claim 1 wherein said capsule is an integral structural portion of said intrauterine device.

5. The device of claim 1 wherein said capsule is an attachment to an intrauterine device which is structurally complete.

6. The device of claim 1 wherein said device is made of at least two structural members joined together and positioned out of straight line alignment to each other in said stable configuration.

7. The device of claim 1 wherein said intrauterine device comprises a single capsule which permits release of said progestin through said wall at a rate not higher than about 300 micrograms per day.

8. The method of inhibiting fertility in a human female without suppressing ovulation comprising the steps of deforming a flexible progestin-containing intrauterine device comprising at least one sealed partially permeable wall, inserting the deformed device through the vaginal orfice into the uterine cavity, releasing the device, obtaining sustained, anti-fertility action by permitting the device to expand into a stable configuration of a width and length great enough to be retained in said uterine cavity, obtaining endrometrial suppression over an extended period by permitting the progestin to be released at a rate not higher than about 900 micrograms per day, and thereafter removing said device by again deforming it and withdrawing it through the vaginal orifice.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein said progestin is progesterone.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein said partially permeable wall comprises a silicone elastomer.