Delivery system, method, and anchor for medical implant placement

• US 9,468,408 B2
• Filed: 03/19/2014
• Issued: 10/18/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/05/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: UIM Pressure Implant Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Integrated Sensing Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Najafi, Nader, Goetzinger, David Joseph, Morgan-Leonard, Catherine Hook, Baranowski, Jacek Ryszard
• Primary Examiner(s): ORKIN, ALEXANDER J
• Application Number:
  US14/219,332
• Publication Number:
  US 20140207153A1
• Time in Patent Office: 944 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/066 catheters therefor
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0215 by means inserted into the body catheters A61M25/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/076 Permanent implantations telemetry using implanted circuitry A61B5/0031; implanted stimulators for therapy A61N1/3605, A61N1/362, A61N1/372
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6869 Heart
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6876 Blood vessel
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6882 Anchoring means
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2/243 Deployment by mechanical expansion
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2/2493 Transmyocardial revascularisation [TMR] devices
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 25/02 Holding devices, e.g. on the body
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 25/04 in the body, e.g. expansible A61M25/10, A61M16/0488 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 39/0247 Semi-permanent or permanent transcutaneous or percutaneous access sites to the inside of the body peritoneal dialysis catheters A61M1/285; tracheostomy devices A61M16/0465; measuring pressure within the body A61B5/03; colostomy devices A61F5/445; gastrotomy feeding tubes A61J15/0015; means for fixing a feeding tube outside of the body A61J15/0053

Abstract

A delivery system and method for placing a medical implant, such as for diagnosing, monitoring and/or treating cardiovascular diseases. The delivery system includes a hollow catheter, an anchor coupled to the catheter, and an implant secured within the anchor. The anchor has a base portion with first and second longitudinal ends and a cage therebetween. The anchor further has flexible arms, flexible legs, features for securing the medical implant within the cage of the base portion, and a coupler portion connected to and spaced apart from the second longitudinal end of the base portion. Surfaces of the arms and legs are adapted to clamp the anchor to a wall. The system further includes a pusher wire adapted to cause the anchor to acquire a stowed configuration in which the legs axially extend from the base portion, permitting the anchor to be retrieved after its deployment.

Claims

1. A delivery system comprising a hollow catheter, an anchor coupled to the catheter, and an implant secured within the anchor, the anchor having stowed and deployed configurations and comprising:

a base portion having a longitudinal axis and comprising first and second longitudinal ends in oppositely-disposed first and second longitudinal directions, respectively, of the anchor, and a cage between the first and second longitudinal ends, the medical implant being secured within the cage of the base portion so that at least a portion of the implant is between the first and second longitudinal ends of the base portion;

a coupler portion releasably coupled to the catheter and connected to and spaced apart from the second longitudinal end of the base portion in the second longitudinal direction of the anchor, wherein longitudinal concave troughs are defined in the coupler portion and each of the longitudinal concave troughs has a recess therein and is contiguous with an end of the coupler portion farthest from the base portion;

a plurality of flexible arms and legs that, in the stowed configuration of the anchor, axially extend from the first and second longitudinal ends, respectively, of the base portion, the arms and legs being resiliently biased so that, in the deployed configuration of the anchor, the arms radially project away from the longitudinal axis of the base portion and axially project toward the second longitudinal end of the base portion and the legs project radially away from the longitudinal axis of the base portion and axially project toward the first longitudinal end of the base portion; and

means for articulating movement of the anchor relative to the catheter in directions transverse to the longitudinal axis of the base portion, the articulating means including at least three connectors that project from the catheter and engage the coupler portion and means for causing the at least three connectors to move relative to each other and thereby cause articulation of the anchor relative to the catheter in directions transverse to the longitudinal axis of the base portion, wherein the at least three connectors are received in the longitudinal concave troughs of the coupler portion and distal tips of each of the at least three connectors engage the recesses in the longitudinal concave troughs such that the distal tips of the at least three connectors are radially confined within a radial profile of the coupler portion.

2. The delivery system according to claim 1, wherein the connectors of the catheter are operable to decouple from the coupler portion by moving in radially outward directions from the coupler portion to disengage the recesses of the longitudinal concave troughs.

3. The delivery system according to claim 1, wherein the connectors of the catheter are operable to couple with the coupler portion by moving in radially inward directions towards the coupler portion to engage the recesses of the longitudinal concave troughs.

4. The delivery system according to claim 3, wherein radially inward surfaces of the connectors are in direct contact with the longitudinal concave troughs when the connectors are coupled with the coupler portion.

5. The delivery system according to claim 1, wherein the distal tips of each of the at least three connectors comprise protrusions extending in radially inward directions towards the coupler portion, the protrusions engaging the recesses in the longitudinal concave troughs when the connectors are coupled with the coupler portion.