Class / Patent application number | Description | Number of patent applications / Date published |
623140130 | Muscle (e.g., sphincter, etc.) | 30 |
20080269896 | IMPLANTABLE PROSTHESIS - An implantable prosthesis and a method of repairing an anatomical defect, such as a tissue or muscle wall defect, by promoting tissue growth thereto, while limiting the incidence of postoperative adhesions between a portion of the prosthesis and tissue or organs. The prosthesis is formed of a biologically compatible, flexible layer of repair fabric suitable for reinforcing tissue or muscle and closing anatomical defects, and a barrier layer for physically isolating at least a portion of one side of the fabric from areas likely to form adhesions. A peripheral barrier extends about at least a portion of the outer peripheral edge of the repair fabric to inhibit adhesions between the outer peripheral edge and adjacent tissue and organs. The repair fabric may include an outer margin that has been melted and resolidified to render the outer peripheral edge substantially impervious to tissue ingrowth. The barrier layer may be joined to the repair fabric with connecting stitches formed from PTFE to inhibit the formation of adhesions thereto. | 10-30-2008 |
20080294257 | Gastrointestinal Device - A gastrointestinal device including a casing including fixation elements adapted for intraluminal fixation of the device in a gastrointestinal tract (e.g., the anorectal wall), a valve disposed in the casing and controllable to move from a closed position, which significantly restricts passage of gastrointestinal (e.g., fecal) matter therepast, and an open position, which permits passage of gastrointestinal matter therepast, and a controller operatively connected to the valve for externally controlling the position of the valve between the closed and open positions. | 11-27-2008 |
20090259315 | ELECTROACTIVE POLYMER BASED ARTIFICIAL SPHINCTERS AND ARTIFICIAL MUSCLE PATCHES - Provided are artificial muscle patches, which are adapted to be implanted adjacent a patient's heart, and artificial sphincter cuffs, which are adapted to be implanted around a body lumen, such as the urethra, the anal canal, or the lower esophagus. The devices of the present invention comprise: (a) one or more electroactive polymer actuators; and (b) a control unit for electrically controlling the one or more electroactive polymer actuators to expand or contract the devices. | 10-15-2009 |
20090265005 | BIOREACTOR SYSTEM AND METHOD OF ENHANCING FUNCTIONALITY OF MUSCLE CULTURED IN VITRO - A method of producing organized skeletal muscle tissue from precursor muscle cells in vitro comprises: (a) providing precursor muscle cells on a support in a tissue media; then (b) cyclically stretching and relaxing the support at least twice along a first axis during a first time period; and then (c) optionally but preferably maintaining the support in a substantially static position during a second time period; and then (d) repeating steps (b) and (c) for a number of times sufficient to enhance the functionality of the tissue formed on the support and/or produce organized skeletal muscle tissue on the solid support from the precursor muscle cells. | 10-22-2009 |
20100211175 | SURGICAL IMPLANT, IN PARTICULAR ARTIFICAL SPHINCTER WITH ADJUSTED PRESSURE - A surgical implant includes an inflatable element that is inflatable in response to fluid pressure; a tank for fluid under pressure in communication with the inflatable element to regulate the pressure of the element; a manually controlled pump in communication firstly with the inflatable element via a one-way check valve, and secondly with the tank via a one-way check valve; and a control unit incorporating the tank and the manual pump. The control unit presents a through opening for the fluid, the opening being in communication firstly on the inside of the control unit with the tank and the manual pump, and secondly on the outside of the control unit solely with the inflatable elements via a catheter mounted between the inflatable element and the control unit. According to the invention, the tank is formed by a leaktight chamber of fluid under pressure defined by a movable piston elastically biased by a spring. | 08-19-2010 |
20100228349 | BULKING OF UPPER ESOPHAGEAL SPHINCTER FOR TREATMENT OF OBESITY - A method for treatment of obesity involves implantation of bulking devices within the upper esophageal sphincter (UES) to inhibit swallowing, thereby limiting food intake and treating obesity. One or more bulking devices are implanted within or near the UES to create a partial obstruction, partially impair UES muscle function, or both. The bulking devices make swallowing difficult, limiting the rate of food intake by a patient, and discouraging the patient from quickly consuming an excessive amount of food at one time. | 09-09-2010 |
20100280613 | MEDICAL DEVICE SUITABLE FOR TREATING REFLUX FROM A STOMACH TO AN OESOPHAGUS - A medical treatment device ( | 11-04-2010 |
20100331980 | ALIGNED SCAFFOLDING SYSTEM FOR SKELETAL MUSCLE REGENERATION - Provided herein are anisotropic muscle implants that have a biodegradable scaffold comprising a plurality of fibers oriented along a longitudinal axis. The implants may include mammalian muscle cells seeded and/or fused into myotubes on the scaffold. Methods of forming the muscle implants are provided, as are methods of treating a subject in need of skeletal muscle reconstruction. | 12-30-2010 |
20110004306 | DEVICE AND METHOD FOR TREATMENT OF INCISION OR HERNIA - Devices and methods for treating an abdominal incision or hernia are described. An implant for the restoration or prophylactic treatment of an abdominal wall comprises an elongate element and at least one sheet connected to the elongate element along a longitudinal axis of the elongate element. The elongate element is positioned along the line of incision, and the at least one sheet is secured to the abdominal muscles surrounding the incision. | 01-06-2011 |
20110015738 | INFLATABLE MEDICAL IMPLANT SYSTEM - Embodiments of an inflatable medical implant system configured for implantation in a patient to treat a condition of the patient comprise a first fluid path, an inflatable implant, an electric pump, a controller, and an implantable power supply that provides electrical power to the pump. The inflatable implant is in fluid communication with the first fluid path and is configured to serve a medical purpose. The electric pump is in fluid communication with the first fluid path. The controller is electrically coupled to the pump and is configured to activate the pump to drive a flow of fluid through the first fluid path. In one embodiment, the inflatable implant comprises and inflatable cuff or a penile prosthesis. Additional embodiments of the invention are directed to methods of operating embodiments of the inflatable medical implant system. | 01-20-2011 |
20110224792 | ARTIFICIAL MUSCLE - The invention relates to an artificial muscle made of aplurality of nano-motors (referred to hereafter as nano power cells), wherein the nano-motors are the smallest unit for the production of complex muscular structures for generating longitudinal motor forces. The artificial muscle according to the invention is made of nano-motors (nano power cells), formed of symmetrical individual plates formed as double triangular segments and arranged radially in a honeycomb pattern, said plates being displaceable in the center and comprising an expansion unit in the interior thereof. | 09-15-2011 |
20120010708 | AMNION AND CHORION REPLACEMENT COVER AND USES THEREOF IN SURGICAL REPAIR OF MUSCLES - Improved methods for a surgical repair of a muscle are described. The improvement includes covering a damaged site of muscle with at least one of an amniotic fluid and a replacement cover for muscle sheath prior to wound closing during the surgery. The replacement cover contains at least one layer of human amnion and chorion tissues and is adapted to a shape appropriate for enclosing the muscle. The methods reduce inflammation, inhibit fibrosis, scarring, fibroblast proliferation and post-operative infection, while also promote more rapid healing and smooth gliding of the affected muscle against adjacent structures. Related replacement covers, kits and methods of preparation are also described. | 01-12-2012 |
20120316645 | RESILIENT MEDICALLY INFLATABLE INTERPOSITIONAL ARTHROPLASTY DEVICE - This disclosure is directed to a resilient interpositional arthroplasty implant for application into joints to pad cartilage defects, cushion joints, and replace or restore the articular surface, which may preserve joint integrity, reduce pain and improve function. The implant may endure variable joint compressive and shear forces and cyclic loads. The implant may repair, reconstruct, and regenerate joint anatomy, and thereby improve upon joint replacement alternatives. Rather than using periosteal harvesting for cell containment in joint resurfacing, the walls of this invention may capture, distribute and hold living cells until aggregation and hyaline cartilage regrowth occurs. The implant may be deployed into debrided joint spaces, molding and conforming to surrounding structures with sufficient stability to avoid extrusion or dislocation. Appendages of the implant may repair or reconstruct tendons or ligaments, and an interior of the implant that is inflatable may accommodate motions which mimic or approximate normal joint motion. | 12-13-2012 |
20130116789 | BIOACTIVE IMPLANT FOR MYOCARDIAL REGENERATION AND VENTRICULAR CHAMBER RESTORATION - Bioactive implant for myocardial regeneration and ventricular chamber support including an elastomeric microporous membrane. The elastomeric microporous membrane being at least one non-degradable polymer and at least one partially degradable polymer. The non-degradable polymer is selected from polyethylacrylate and polyethylacrylate copolymerized with a hydroxyethylacrylate comonomer. The partially degradable polymer is selected from caprolactone 2-(methacryloyloxy)ethyl ester and caprolactone 2-(methacryloyloxy)ethyl ester copolymerized with ethylacrylate. The elastomeric microporous membrane further includes a nanofiber hydrogel, and cells. The bioactive implant, having one or two helical loops, contributes to the restauration of the heart conical shape. Cardiac wrapping by ventricular support bioprostheses of the present invention, having reinforcement bands spatially distributed as helicoids, recovers the sequential contraction of the myocardium resulting in the successive shortening and lengthening of the ventricles, therefore improving the ejection (systolic function) and suction of blood (diastolic function). | 05-09-2013 |
20130158662 | Muscle Derived Cells For The Treatment Of Gastro-Esophageal Pathologies And Methods Of Making And Using The Same - The present invention provides muscle-derived progenitor cells that show long-term survival following transplantation into body tissues and which can augment soft tissue following introduction (e.g. via injection, transplantation, or implantation) into a site of soft tissue. Also provided are methods of isolating muscle-derived progenitor cells, and methods of genetically modifying the cells for gene transfer therapy. The invention further provides methods of using compositions comprising muscle-derived progenitor cells for the augmentation and bulking of mammalian, including human, soft tissues in the treatment of various cosmetic or functional conditions, including malformation, injury, weakness, disease, or dysfunction. In particular, the present invention provides treatments and amelioration of symptoms for gastro-esophageal pathologies like gastro-esophageal reflux. | 06-20-2013 |
20130197640 | METHODS FOR MAKING A TISSUE ENGINEERED MUSCLE REPAIR (TEMR) CONSTRUCT IN VITRO FOR IMPLANTATION IN VIVO - Provided herein are methods of culturing organized skeletal muscle tissue from precursor muscle cells by cyclically stretching and relaxing said muscle cells on a support in vitro for a time sufficient to produce said organized skeletal muscle tissue, including reseeding said organized skeletal muscle tissue by contacting additional precursor muscle cells to said organized skeletal muscle tissue on said solid support, and then repeating said step of cyclically stretching and relaxing said muscle cells in said support in vitro for time sufficient to enhance the density (i.e., increased number of nuclei and/or number of multinucleated cells) of said organized skeletal muscle tissue on said support. | 08-01-2013 |
20130297022 | STABILIZING UNINTENTIONAL MUSCLE MOVEMENTS - A system and method for stabilizing unintentional muscle movements are disclosed. In a first aspect, a non-contact sensing system comprises a stabilization unit, at least one non-contact position sensor coupled to the stabilization unit, and a processing unit coupled to the at least one non-contact position sensor, wherein the processing unit transmits motion commands to the stabilization unit to cancel unintentional muscle movements. In a second aspect, the method comprises a processing unit of a non-contact sensing system receiving position data of a stabilization unit that is detected by at least one non-contact position sensor and filtering the position data to identify the unintentional muscle movements. The method includes modeling the position data to create a system model and determining motor commands based upon the system model to cancel the unintentional muscle movements. | 11-07-2013 |
20140005785 | LINEAR ELECTROMECHANICAL DEVICE-BASED ARTIFICIAL MUSCLES, BIO-VALVES AND RELATED APPLICATIONS | 01-02-2014 |
20140018918 | Muscle Prosthesis with Suspension Fixing Apparatus for Implantation in Human Body and Production Method Thereof - A muscle prosthesis with a suspension fixing apparatus for implantation into a human body and production method thereof; the muscle prosthesis comprises a muscle prosthesis main body and the suspension fixing apparatus; the suspension fixing apparatus consists of at least one stretchable part and at least two fasteners; the suspension fixing apparatus can fix the muscle prosthesis to a human bone or human muscle tendon and fascia. The suspension fixing system can change the thickness and outer shape of the prosthesis according to the direction and intensity of a tensile force, thus satisfying the requirements of different body parts and different muscle thicknesses. Use of the suspension fixing apparatus allows the prosthesis to be fixed firmly and be structurally stable, thus solving the technical problem of drooping and shifting prostheses. | 01-16-2014 |
20140364948 | Bi-phasic 3-Dimenisonal Nanofiber Scaffolds, Two Parallel Beam Collector Device and Methods of Use - A biphasic scaffold and devices and methods for making the scaffold are disclosed. An example scaffold may include (a) a first plurality of randomly-oriented nanofibers defining a first tab region, (b) a second plurality of randomly-oriented nanofibers defining a second tab region, and (c) a plurality of aligned nanofibers coupled to and extending between the first tab region and the second tab region, where the plurality of aligned nanofibers are suspended between the first tab region and the second tab region. | 12-11-2014 |
20140371854 | ADJUSTABLE ELASTIC ANTAGONIST MUSCLE REPLACEMENT MECHANISM - The present invention is an anatomic system which uses the principle of applying higher elastic tonus than the rest tonus of the agonist muscles to provide the function of the antagonist muscles, and which is designed in a simplest way to provide the said purpose and which can be integrated to the body. The static mechanism of the invention is an elastic mechanism which applies a continuous stable tension in order to keep the joints open. The tension of the mechanism is calibrated by increasing or decreasing the amount of the liquid in a chamber which has flexible and elastic walls up to a certain via a port. In the dynamic mechanism of the invention, the tension applied by the elastic mechanism can be changed according to the motion the patient wants to perform. | 12-18-2014 |
20140371855 | MEDICAL DEVICE COMPRISING AN ARTIFICIAL CONTRACTILE STRUCTURE - A medical device includes an artificial contractile structure which may be advantageously used to assist the functioning of a hollow organ, an artificial contractile structure including at least one contractile element ( | 12-18-2014 |
20140379083 | TUBULAR BIOENGINEERED SMOOTH MUSCLE STRUCTURES - Methods of generating tubular, bioengineered, smooth muscle structures are disclosed as well as bioengineered tissue for tubular organ repair or replacement. The methods can include the steps of obtaining smooth muscle cells; culturing the muscle cells to form a smooth muscle cell construct of directionally oriented smooth muscle cells; disposing the smooth muscle cell construct around a tubular scaffold; and culturing construct and scaffold in a growth media until a smooth muscle cell structure is achieved. The step of obtain smooth muscle cells can further include obtaining autologous smooth muscle cells from a subject. In one preferred embodiment, the muscle cells can first be on a fibrin substrate to form a muscle construct, which is then disposed around a tubular scaffold, for example, a chitosan scaffold. The methods of the present invention can further include connecting two or more tubular structures together to form an elongate composite structure. | 12-25-2014 |
20150105859 | PASSIVE ARTIFICIAL SPHINCTER - A passive artificial sphincter includes a tension member, an outer sleeve, and a connecter. The tension member has first and second ends. The outer sleeve contains the tension member and is formed of a biocompatible material. The connecter is configured to couple the first and second ends together to form an artificial sphincter ring. The artificial sphincter ring is configured for implantation around the lumen to provide passive constriction of the lumen. | 04-16-2015 |
20150142111 | Controlling a Size of a Pylorus - Systems and methods are provided for reversibly controlling a size and/or restricting the movement of a body orifice, such as a pyloric opening, using an implantable device configured to allow a distance between opposed ends thereof to be adjusted. A device is provided having attachment members and a connector portion extending therebetween and configured such that a size of the pyloric opening is decreased upon the implantation of the device. The connector can be adjustable to allow a size of the pyloric opening to be adjusted after it has been restricted. The connector can include two or more bridge portions having different lengths such that cutting a first bridge portion can increase the distance between the attachment members so as to increase the size of the pyloric opening. To revert to a natural size of the body orifice, the entire connector can be cut or otherwise broken and/or removed. | 05-21-2015 |
20160017899 | SOFT ACTUATORS AND SOFT ACTUATING DEVICES - A soft buckling linear actuator is described, including: a plurality of substantially parallel bucklable, elastic structural components each having its longest dimension along a first axis; and a plurality of secondary structural components each disposed between and bridging two adjacent bucklable, elastic structural components; wherein every two adjacent bucklable, elastic structural components and the secondary structural components in-between define a layer comprising a plurality of cells each capable of being connected with a fluid inflation or deflation source; the secondary structural components from two adjacent layers are not aligned along a second axis perpendicular to the first axis; and the secondary structural components are configured not to buckle, the bucklable, elastic structural components are configured to buckle along the second axis to generate a linear force, upon the inflation or deflation of the cells. Methods of actuation using the same are also described. | 01-21-2016 |
20160022471 | TONGUE DEFORMATION IMPLANT - There is provided a method and apparatus for a tongue implant to induce deformation of the tongue made of Nitinol in superelastic state at body temperature for the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea. In one embodiment the implant has a function of a V shaped spring, one leg helically inserted into the tongue, the other leg beneath the root of the tongue, to permanently compress the tongue. In another embodiment, there is provided a method and apparatus for placement of a helical implant to permanently compress the tongue by deforming it and stiffening it to maintain tongue stability for the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea. | 01-28-2016 |
20160058566 | Method for tissue repair with spirals of filament - A distal portion of a filament is extended beyond the distal end of a needle with a gripper. The needle with the extended filament is inserted into a cannula with snagging points at the distal opening of the cannula in tissue. The snagging points of the cannula hook and retain the distal portion of the filament. During partial withdrawal of the needle, a section of filament is deposited in the lumen of the cannula between the distal ends of the needle and cannula. When the needle is re-advanced, the section of filament is expelled or pushed out of the cannula into tissue. The needle is then rotated; the gripper engages and spirals the expelled filament, burrowing into tissue. The needle can further advanced to push and pack the spiral of filament deep into the tissue. The knot-like filament spiral is individually formed by rotation of the needle and friction between the extended filament and tissue. The process of needle partial withdrawal, re-advancement, rotation and pushing is repeated to pack and fill the tissue with interconnecting spirals of filament to prevent migration from tissue. Spiraling of the filament driven by the rotating needle is space seeking, filling, fitting or conforming to fortify, bulk, fill, cushion or repair the tissue. Bulking with filament spirals can repair degenerated disc, urinary incontinence, fecal incontinence or other defective tissue. The filament spirals can also be used as a suture anchor deep within tissue. | 03-03-2016 |
20160113754 | IMPLANTABLE OCCLUSION SYSTEM COMPRISING A DEVICE FOR DETECTING ATROPHY OF A NATURAL CONDUIT - The invention relates to an occlusive system implantable in an animal or human body to occlude a natural conduit ( | 04-28-2016 |
20160184082 | Bionic Muscle - The present invention provides an electromagnetic device comprising: a power circuit, and a contact initiated electro-magnet having an electrical coil in operable connection with the power circuit, wherein one end of the electrical coil is directly connected to the power circuit and the other is connected to the magnetic core of the electromagnet such that, in use, the magnetic core performs the dual purposes of (i) focusing the electromagnetic field created by the coil and (ii) forms part of the electrical circuit that energizes the magnetic core of the electromagnet. Multiple electromagnetic devices may be combined to form a kinetic device capable of creating an electrically-based movement device that mimics the form and function of the skeletal muscle through the use of multiple contact initiated electromagnets held within elastic tubes. | 06-30-2016 |