Vessel occluder

• US 4,177,813 A
• Filed: 01/09/1978
• Issued: 12/11/1979
• Est. Priority Date: 01/09/1978
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Neuromedics Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Med General, Inc.
• Inventors: Arp, Robert A., Miller, Curtis H, Carpenter, Howard F.
• Primary Examiner(s): Johnson, Richard J.
• Application Number:
  US05/868,032
• Time in Patent Office: 701 Days
• Field of Search: 128/325, 128/326, 128/327, 128/347, 128/346, 251/7, 251/9, 251/5
• US Class Current: 606/139
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 17/12009 Implements for ligaturing other than by clamps or clips, e.g. using a loop with a slip knot

Abstract

A disposable vascular tourniquet for controlling the constriction of a blood vessel during surgery. The vessel occluder comprises a flexible tubular sheath having a clamping structure disposed at its proximal end. The clamping structure is a unitary molded plastic part which has a tubular base portion adapted to be inserted into the proximal end of the flexible sheath and projecting from this base portion are bifurcated fingers, one of which includes a transversely extending latch portion which is adapted to mate with a recess on the other finger. A retractor or snare having a hook at one end and a ring-type handle at the other end may be inserted between the fingers of the clamp when in its unlatched condition and through the tubular base of the clamp and the sheath so as to extend outwardly from the distal end of the sheath. A cord may be looped around a vessel to be constricted and the ends of the loop are captured in the hook of the retractor. When the retractor is drawn outward from the sheath, the ends of the loop pass between the fingers of the clamp such that when the fingers are pinched together and latched, axial movement of the cord with respect to the tubular sheath is prevented.

Claims

1. A vessel occluder comprising:

(a) an elongated tubular sheath having proximal and distal ends;

(b) a clamp member having a tubular base portion adapted to be fitted into said proximal end of said tubular sheath and having integrally formed resilient bifurcated fingers extending from said base portion, one of said fingers terminating in an integrally formed, transversely extending clasp segment having an aperture therethrough, said clasp segment being adapted to engage the other of said fingers for releasably pinching said fingers together; and

(c) an elongated retractor adapted to extend through said aperture in said clasp segment, said tubular base portion and the lumen of said sheath and beyond both ends thereof, said retractor having a handle at its proximal end and a hook at its distal end adapted to snare the ends of a cord or the like looped about a body vessel and draw said ends through the lumen of the sheath, between said bifurcated fingers and through said aperture in said clasp segment, the arrangement being such that when said clasp segment engages the other of said fingers, said cord is restrained from axial movement with respect to said sheath.

2. In a vessel occluder of the type including an elongated tubular sheath having distal and proximal ends and a retractor having a handle at one end and a hook at its other end adapted to be inserted through the lumen of said sheath for drawing the ends of a looped cord through the lumen of said sheath upon withdrawal of said retractor from said sheath, means for releasably securing said loop against axial movement relative to said sheath comprising:

(a) a clamp member having a tubular base portion adapted to be inserted into the proximal end of said sheath and having integrally formed bifurcated fingers extending outwardly from said base portion, one of said fingers having an integrally formed transversely extending latch adapted to releasably engage the other of said fingers to maintain said fingers in a pinched relationship with respect to the ends of said loop only when said latch and said other of said fingers are engaged.

3. The clamp as in claim 2 and further including:

(a) first and second integrally formed projections extending inwardly from each of said bifurcated fingers, said projections defining clamping jaws therebetween.

4. Apparatus as in claim 3 wherein opposed faces of said projections include a serrated surface.

5. Apparatus as in claim 2 wherein said latch includes an aperture therethrough generally aligned with said tubular end portion and of a size to allow said retractor to pass through said aperture.

6. The device as in claim 5 and further including a flexible pin fixedly attached at one end to said latch and oriented to extend across said aperture and releasably secure to said latch.

7. Apparatus as in claim 6 wherein the end of said latch includes an integrally formed tip extending at an oblique angle out of the plane of said latch to define a human finger engaging abutment.

8. Apparatus as in claim 2 wherein each of said fingers includes a concave arcuate portion on the outer surfaces thereof dimensioned to generally conform to the thumb and forefinger of a human and wherein said concave arcuate portions are serrated.

9. The device as in claim 2 wherein said other finger includes a V-shaped notch proximate the free end thereof and said latch includes a V-shaped projection on its undersurface, proximate its free end adapted to cooperate with said V-shaped notch in said other finger.