Implant and delivery tool therefor

• US 7,632,297 B2
• Filed: 01/05/2006
• Issued: 12/15/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: ProstaPlant Urology Systems Ltd
• Original Assignee: Prostaplant, Ltd.
• Inventors: Gross, Yosef
• Primary Examiner(s): Gibson; Roy D
• Application Number:
  US11/325,731
• Publication Number:
  US 20060173517A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,440 Days
• Field of Search: 623/1.11, 623/1.15, 623/1.42, 607/101, 607/102
• US Class Current: 623/1.11
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2/04 Hollow or tubular parts of organs, e.g. bladders, tracheae, bronchi or bile ducts A61F2/18, A61F2/20 take precedence; devices, other than stent-grafts, providing patency to, or preventing collapsing of, tubular structures of the body other than stent-grafts, e.g. stents A61F2/82; instruments specially adapted for placement or removal of stents or stent-grafts A61F2/95
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2/88 the wire-like elements formed as helical or spiral coils forming a net-like or mesh-like structure A61F2/90
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2/95 Instruments specially adapted for placement or removal of stents or stent-grafts
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2002/047 Urethrae
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 25/0017 specially adapted for long-term hygiene care, e.g. urethral or indwelling catheters to prevent infections

Abstract

An implant system including a transurethral prostatic implant positioned in a prostate and including a lumen with an inner perimeter that surrounds an outer perimeter of a urethra at the prostate. The implant system may include a delivery tool including a shaft having a distal portion and an implant-holding portion proximal to the distal portion, the distal portion being sized for entry into a urethra, and the implant-holding portion being thicker than the distal portion, and an implant positioned on the implant-holding portion.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

distally advancing an implant including a plurality of coils through a body lumen of a patient; and

supporting a wall of the body lumen by implanting the implant in tissue surrounding the body lumen.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein supporting the wall of the body lumen comprises preventing outward bulging of the wall of the body lumen.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein implanting the implant in the tissue surrounding the body lumen comprises implanting the implant in tissue surrounding a urethra of the patient.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein implanting the implant in the tissue surrounding the body lumen comprises implanting the implant in tissue surrounding a blood vessel of the patient.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein distally advancing the implant through the body lumen of the patient comprises rotating the implant about a longitudinal axis of a shaft used to implant the implant.

6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising imaging via apparatus used for distally advancing the implant.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising delivering thermal energy to the tissue surrounding the body lumen from one or more of the plurality of coils by energizing the one or more of the plurality of coils.

8. The method according to claim 1, further comprising delivering radiofrequency energy to the tissue surrounding the body lumen from one or more of the plurality of coils by energizing the one or more of the plurality of coils.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein implanting the implant in the tissue surrounding the body lumen comprises corkscrewing the implant into the tissue surrounding the body lumen.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein corkscrewing the implant into the tissue comprises rotating the implant about a longitudinal axis of a shaft used to implant the implant.

11. The method according to claim 9, wherein corkscrewing the implant into the tissue comprises surrounding an outer perimeter of the body lumen by an inner perimeter of the implant.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein surrounding the outer perimeter of the body lumen comprises surrounding a urethra of the patient, and wherein corkscrewing the implant into the tissue comprises corkscrewing the implant into prostate tissue surrounding the urethra.

13. The method according to claim 11, wherein surrounding the outer perimeter of the body lumen by the inner perimeter of the implant comprises sucking the wall of the body lumen toward a center of the body lumen by applying a suction force in the body lumen.

14. A method, comprising:

transurethrally advancing at least one prostatic implant through a urethra of a patient; and

enlarging an area for urine to pass through the urethra, by supporting a prostate of the patient from outside the urethra, by piercing a site of the urethra and passing the prostatic implant through the site of the piercing into tissue of the prostate of the patient.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein enlarging the area comprises supporting the tissue by the prostatic implant.

16. The method according to claim 14, wherein transurethrally advancing the at least one prostatic implant comprises transurethrally advancing a plurality of coils into the tissue of the prostate.

17. The method according to claim 14, wherein transurethrally advancing the at least one prostatic implant comprises transurethrally advancing a plurality of discrete implants.

18. Apparatus, comprising:

a first transurethrally-deliverable coil-shaped implant; and

a second transurethrally-deliverable coil-shaped implant, the second transurethrally-deliverable coil-shaped implant being discrete from the first transurethrally-deliverable coil-shaped implant, the first and second transurethrally-deliverable coil-shaped implants being implantable in tissue of a prostate of a patient from within a urethra of the patient, and configured to enlarge an area for urine to pass through the urethra by piercing a site of the urethra and supporting the prostate from outside the urethra.

19. The apparatus according to claim 18, wherein the first implant comprises a coil and wherein the second implant comprises a coil.