Specialty stents with flow control features or the like

• US 8,721,706 B2
• Filed: 07/06/2011
• Issued: 05/13/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/16/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Gearbox LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: The Invention Science Fund I, L.L.C. (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Jung, Edward K. Y., Langer, Robert, Leuthardt, Eric C., Levien, Royce A., Lord, Robert W., Malamud, Mark A., Rinaldo, John D. Jr., Tegreene, Clarence T., Wood, Lowell L. Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): Dunham, Jason
• Assistant Examiner(s): MISIASZEK, AMBER ALTSCHUL
• Application Number:
  US13/135,437
• Publication Number:
  US 20120089414A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,042 Days
• Field of Search: 705 2- 3, 623 115- 116, 606/200
• US Class Current: 623/1.15
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/40 relating to mechanical, radiation or invasive therapies, e.g. surgery, laser therapy, dialysis or acupuncture

Abstract

Methods and systems are described for receiving a parameter relating to a specific patient and for configuring a stent with a flow occlusion portion in response to receiving the parameter relating to the specific patient.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

generating a parameter based on a specific patient physical attribute, the specific patient physical attribute including a plurality of sonic attributes of the specific patient, the plurality of sonic attributes including at least three of a vessel thickness density, stiffness, and radius of curvature; and

configuring a stent with a flow occlusion portion in response to generating the parameter based on the specific patient physical attribute, wherein at least one of the generating and the configuring are at least partially implemented using one or more processing devices.

2. The method of claim 1 in which generating a parameter based on a specific patient physical attribute comprises:

obtaining an identifier of the specific patient as the parameter relating to the specific patient.

3. The method of claim 1 in which generating a parameter based on a specific patient physical attribute comprises:

obtaining medical history information including at least the parameter relating to the specific patient.

4. The method of claim 1 in which generating a parameter based on a specific patient physical attribute comprises:

obtaining an identifier of the specific patient as the parameter relating to the specific patient.

5. The method of claim 1 in which configuring a stent with a flow occlusion portion in response to generating the parameter based on the specific patient physical attribute comprises:

heat-treating at least a portion of the one or more stents responsive to the parameter.

6. The method of claim 1 in which configuring a stent with a flow occlusion portion in response to generating the parameter based on the specific patient physical attribute comprises:

removing material from the stent in the response to receiving the parameter.

7. The method of claim 1 in which configuring a stent with a flow occlusion portion in response to generating the parameter based on the specific patient physical attribute comprises:

configuring the stent with a flow-permeable mesh in the response to generating the parameter.

8. The method of claim 1 in which configuring a stent with a flow occlusion portion in response to generating the parameter based on the specific patient physical attribute comprises:

configuring the flow occlusion portion of the stent in the response to generating the parameter.

9. The method of claim 1 in which configuring a stent with a flow occlusion portion in response to generating the parameter based on the specific patient physical attribute comprises:

configuring the flow occlusion portion at least partly by performing an operation upon another portion of the stent.

10. The method of claim 1 in which configuring a stent with a flow occlusion portion in response to generating the parameter based on the specific patient physical attribute comprises:

requesting a heuristic model at least partly based on the received parameter relating to the specific patient.

11. The method of claim 1 in which configuring a stent with a flow occlusion portion in response to generating the parameter based on the specific patient physical attribute comprises:

configuring the stent with the flow occlusion portion virtually.

12. The method of claim 1 in which configuring a stent with a flow occlusion portion in response to generating the parameter based on the specific patient physical attribute comprises:

configuring the flow occlusion portion of the stent at least partly based on the parameter.

13. The method of claim 1 in which configuring a stent with a flow occlusion portion in response to generating the parameter based on the specific patient physical attribute comprises:

configuring the flow occlusion portion of the stent with an occlusion area at least about as large as a cross-sectional area of a target feature of the specific patient.

14. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

forming a flow-permissive portion of the stent from a sheet material.

15. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

forming a flow-permissive portion of the stent from a wire material.

16. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

recording an indication of configuring the stent.

17. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

recording an indication of the flow occlusion portion.

18. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

recording an indication of the parameter relating to the specific patient.

19. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

recording an indication of generating the parameter.

20. The method of claim 1 in which generating a parameter based on a specific patient physical attribute comprises:

generating a request quantity as the parameter relating to the specific patient physical attribute.

21. The method of claim 1 in which generating a parameter based on a specific patient physical attribute comprises:

generating the parameter relating to the specific patient after obtaining an identifier of the specific patient physical attribute.

22. The method of claim 1 in which generating a parameter based on a specific patient physical attribute comprises:

generating a timestamp as the parameter relating to the specific patient physical attribute.

23. The method of claim 1 in which generating a parameter based on a specific patient physical attribute comprises:

generating an item identifier as the parameter relating to the specific patient physical attribute.

24. The method of claim 1 in which generating a parameter based on a specific patient physical attribute comprises:

retrieving a record including at least the parameter relating to the specific patient physical attribute.

25. The method of claim 1 in which configuring a stent with a flow occlusion portion in response to generating the parameter based on the specific patient physical attribute comprises:

causing one or more configuration instructions to be executed in response to the parameter relating to the specific patient physical attribute.

26. The method of claim 1 in which configuring a stent with a flow occlusion portion in response to generating the parameter based on the specific patient physical attribute comprises:

configuring at least one attribute of the stent at least roughly contemporaneously with generating the parameter based on the specific patient physical attribute.

27. The method of claim 1 in which configuring a stent with a flow occlusion portion in response to generating the parameter based on the specific patient physical attribute comprises:

displaying the stent configured with the flow occlusion portion in response to the generated parameter based on the specific patient physical attribute.

28. The method of claim 1 in which configuring a stent with a flow occlusion portion in response to generating the parameter based on the specific patient physical attribute comprises:

positioning the flow occlusion portion of the stent in relation to another portion of the stent according to the parameter based on the specific patient physical attribute.

30. The method of claim 1 in which generating a parameter based on a specific patient physical attribute, the specific patient physical attribute including at least one sonic attribute of the specific patient comprises:

generating the parameter based on the specific patient physical attribute, the specific patient physical attribute including the at least one sonic attribute of the specific patient, wherein the at least one sonic attribute of the specific patient includes a substantially current measurement of the at least one sonic attribute of the specific patient.

29. A method comprising:

receiving a parameter relating to a specific patient as a physical attribute relating to the specific patient, wherein the physical attribute includes at least one sonic attribute of the specific patient;

recording an indication of receiving the parameter;

recording an indication of the parameter relating to the specific patient; and

configuring a stent with a flow occlusion portion in response to receiving the parameter relating to the specific patient at least by configuring the flow occlusion portion of the stent with an occlusion area at least about as large as a cross-sectional area of a target feature of the specific patient at least partly based on the parameter relating to the specific patient and by configuring the flow occlusion portion at least partly by performing an operation upon another portion of the stent, wherein at least one of the receiving, the recording, or the configuring are at least partially implemented using one or more processing devices.

31. A method comprising:

generating a parameter based on a specific patient physical attribute, the specific patient physical attribute including a plurality of sonic attributes of the specific patient, the plurality of sonic attributes including at least two of a vessel thickness, density, stiffness, and radius of curvature;

in response to generating the parameter based on the specific patient physical attribute, configuring a stent with a flow occlusion portion, wherein configuring the stent with the flow occlusion portion comprises forming the flow occlusion portion of the stent by supporting a substantially occlusive layer with a rigid flow-permeable mesh, wherein at least one of the generating and configuring is at least partially implemented using one or more processing devices.