Intestine dysfunction treatment apparatus
First Claim
1. An intestine dysfunction treatment apparatus, comprising:
- an electric stimulation device implantable in a patient, who suffers from intestine dysfunction,electric conductors of the electric stimulation device adapted to directly engage with a muscle that directly or indirectly affects the transportation of the content of the patient'"'"'s intestines, to electrically stimulate the muscle to increase the tonus thereof,a source of energy intended to be external to the patient'"'"'s body when the stimulation device is implanted therein, anda control device controllable from outside the patient'"'"'s body and adapted to control the external source of energy to release wireless energy for use in connection with the power of the stimulation device,wherein the control device controls the stimulation device to vary the intensity of the electric stimulation of the muscle over time, including changing the intensity of the electric stimulation of the muscle so that the muscle tonus is changed.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An intestine dysfunction treatment apparatus comprises an electric stimulation device (56) implanted in a patient, who suffers from intestine dysfunction. The stimulation device comprises electric conductors adapted to directly engage with a muscle that directly or indirectly affects the transportation of the content of the patient'"'"'s intestines, for example the anal sphincter (58) or a portion of the muscle that contracts the bowels, to electrically stimulate the muscle to increase the tonus thereof. A control device (62) is provided for controlling a source of energy (64), which may or may not be implanted, to release electric energy for use in connection with the power of the stimulation device. The apparatus can be used for treating patients suffering from anal incontinence or constipation.
55 Citations
168 Claims
-
1. An intestine dysfunction treatment apparatus, comprising:
-
an electric stimulation device implantable in a patient, who suffers from intestine dysfunction, electric conductors of the electric stimulation device adapted to directly engage with a muscle that directly or indirectly affects the transportation of the content of the patient'"'"'s intestines, to electrically stimulate the muscle to increase the tonus thereof, a source of energy intended to be external to the patient'"'"'s body when the stimulation device is implanted therein, and a control device controllable from outside the patient'"'"'s body and adapted to control the external source of energy to release wireless energy for use in connection with the power of the stimulation device, wherein the control device controls the stimulation device to vary the intensity of the electric stimulation of the muscle over time, including changing the intensity of the electric stimulation of the muscle so that the muscle tonus is changed. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71)
-
-
72. An intestine dysfunction treatment apparatus, comprising:
-
an electric stimulation device implantable in a patient, who suffers from intestine dysfunction, electric conductors of the electric stimulation device adapted to directly engage with a muscle that directly or indirectly affects the transportation of the content of the patient'"'"'s intestines, to electrically stimulate the muscle to increase the tonus thereof, a source of energy intended to be external to the patient'"'"'s body when the stimulation device is implanted therein, a control device controllable from outside the patient'"'"'s body and adapted to control the external source of energy to release wireless energy for use in connection with the power of the stimulation device, an implantable energy transforming device for transforming wireless energy directly or indirectly into electric energy for the power of the stimulation device, and an internal electric source of energy implantable in the patient for storing the electric energy transformed from the wireless energy, wherein the control device is adapted to supply the stimulation device with electric energy from the internal electric source of energy, and wherein the internal electric source of energy is adapted to provide a current through the electric conductors, and the control device is adapted to control the internal electric source of energy to release electric energy such that the intensity of the current through the electric conductors amounts to a predetermined value. - View Dependent Claims (73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102)
-
-
103. An intestine dysfunction treatment apparatus, comprising:
-
an electric stimulation device implantable in a patient, who suffers from intestine dysfunction, electric conductors of the electric stimulation device adapted to directly engage with a muscle capable of contracting the patient'"'"'s large bowel in a wave-like manner for transporting the feces therein, to electrically stimulate the muscle to increase the tonus thereof, a source of energy intended to be external to the patient'"'"'s body when the stimulation device is implanted therein, and a control device adapted to control the external source of energy to release wireless energy for use in connection with the power of the stimulation device, wherein the control device is controllable by the patient to power the stimulation device to momentarily stimulate the muscle to cause the muscle to momentarily contract the large bowel in said wave-like manner, in order to avoid constipation.
-
-
104. An intestine dysfunction treatment apparatus, comprising:
-
an electric stimulation device implantable in a patient, who suffers from intestine dysfunction, electric conductors of the electric stimulation device adapted to directly engage with the anal sphincter, to electrically stimulate the anal sphincter to increase the tonus thereof, a source of energy intended to be external to the patient'"'"'s body when the stimulation device is implanted therein, a control device adapted to control the external source of energy to release wireless energy for use in connection with the power of the stimulation device, and at least one implantable sensor for sensing the pressure against the anal sphincter exerted by the fecal passageway, wherein the electric stimulation device is adapted to increase the stimulation intensity on the anal sphincter in response to the sensor sensing an abrupt increase in pressure caused by rectum contraction.
-
-
105. An intestine dysfunction treatment apparatus, comprising:
-
an electric stimulation device implantable in a patient, who suffers from intestine dysfunction, electric conductors of the electric stimulation device adapted to directly engage with the anal sphincter, to electrically stimulate the anal sphincter to increase the tonus thereof, a source of energy intended to be external to the patient'"'"'s body when the stimulation device is implanted therein, a control device controllable from outside the patient'"'"'s body and adapted to control the external source of energy to release wireless energy for use in connection with the power of the stimulation device, and at least one implantable sensor for sensing the patient'"'"'s orientation. - View Dependent Claims (106)
-
-
107. An intestine dysfunction treatment apparatus, comprising:
-
an electric stimulation device implantable in a patient, who suffers from intestine dysfunction, electric conductors of the electric stimulation device adapted to directly engage with a muscle that directly or indirectly affects the transportation of the content of the patient'"'"'s intestines, to electrically stimulate the muscle with electric pulses to increase the tonus thereof, a source of energy intended to be external to the patient'"'"'s body when the stimulation device is implanted therein, a control device controllable from outside the patient'"'"'s body and adapted to control the external source of energy to release wireless energy for use in connection with the power of the stimulation device, and a switch implantable in the patient for directly or indirectly switching the power of the stimulation device to switch the delivery of electric pulses. - View Dependent Claims (108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140)
-
-
141. An intestine dysfunction treatment apparatus, comprising:
-
an electric stimulation device implantable in a patient, who suffers from intestine dysfunction, electric conductors of the electric stimulation device adapted to directly engage with the rectus abdominis of the patient who has iliostomy, jejunostomy, colostomy or rectostomy, to electrically stimulate the rectus abdominis to increase the tonus thereof, a source of energy intended to be external to the patient'"'"'s body when the stimulation device is implanted therein, and a control device controllable from outside the patient'"'"'s body and adapted to control the external source of energy to release wireless energy for use in connection with the power of the stimulation device, wherein the control device is adapted to control the stimulation device to continuously stimulate the rectus abdominis to close the intestines, except when the patient wants to defecate.
-
-
142. An intestine dysfunction treatment apparatus, comprising:
-
an electric stimulation device implantable in a patient, who suffers from intestine dysfunction, electric conductors of the electric stimulation device adapted to directly engage with the wall muscle of the intestines of the patient who has iliostomy, jejunostomy, colostomy or rectostomy, to electrically stimulate the wall muscle of the intestines to increase the tonus thereof, a source of energy intended to be external to the patient'"'"'s body when the stimulation device is implanted therein, and a control device controllable from outside the patient'"'"'s body and adapted to control the external source of energy to release wireless energy for use in connection with the power of the stimulation device, wherein the control device is adapted to control the stimulation device to continuously stimulate the wall muscle of the intestines to close the intestines, except when the patient wants to defecate. - View Dependent Claims (143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157, 158, 159, 160, 161, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167, 168)
-
Specification