Implant and implanting method

Claim 2

In a method for introducing an implant into the interior of a tubular body organ, the steps of connecting to the implant inwardly of a free end thereof which is to be introduced first into the tubular organ in advance of the remainder of the implant a plurality of flexible barbs circumferentially distributed about the implant and inclined inwardly away from the free end thereof while being capable of flexing substantially radially toward and away from the part of the implant which carries the barbs, and then introducing the implant into the interior of a tubular organ with the free end of the implant entering first in advance of the barbs while simultaneously placing in engagement with the tubular organ at the exterior thereof a tool which is capable of being manipulated for pulling the tubular organ over the implant to an extent sufficient to situate an interior surface of the tubular organ inwardly beyond the barbs while deflecting the latter radially toward the part of the implant which carries the barbs, so that the barbs will oppose longitudinal retraction of the tubular organ from the implant without injuring the tubular organ during introduction of the implant, said tool having teeth which are inserted into the tubular organ at the exterior thereof, and situating said teeth out of circumferential alignment with barbs so that when the barbs and teeth move past each other, the teeth of the tool will be aligned with the spaces between the barbs.

Claim 3

In a method for introducing an implant into the interior of a tubular body organ, the steps of connecting to the implant inwardly of a free end thereof which is to be introduced first into the tubular organ in advance of the remainder of the implant a plurality of flexible barbs circumferentially distributed about the implant and inclined inwardly away from the free end thereof while being capable of flexing substantially radially toward and away from the part of the implant which carries the barbs, and then introducing the implant into the interior of a tubular organ with the free end of the implant entering first in advance of the barbs while simultaneously placing in engagement with the tubular organ at the exterior thereof a tool which is capable of being mainpulated for pulling the tubular organ over the implant to an extent sufficient to situate an interior surface of the tubular organ inwardly beyond the barbs while deflecting the latter radially toward the part of the implant which carries the barbs, so that the barbs will oppose longitudinal retraction of the tubular organ from the implant without injuring the tubular organ during introduction of the implant, situating on the implant inwardly of and adjacent the barbs a tissue-ingrowth means into which tissue of the tubular organ will grow from the inner surface of the tubular organ, so that said barbs act to immobilize the part of the tubular organ which engages the tissue ingrowth means to promote an undisturbed growth of tissue into the ingrowth mean, said tool being in the form of tweezers having teeth which are inserted into the tubular organ, said tweezer teeth being circumferentially distributed about the tubular organ, and angularly situating the latter teeth in longitudinal alignment with spaces between the barbs so that as the tweezer teeth and barbs move past each other the tweezer teeth will be circumferentially aligned with spaces between the barbs.

Claim 4

In a method for introducing an implant into the interior of a tubular body organ, the steps of connecting to the implant inwardly of a free end thereof which is to be introduced first into the tubular organ in advance of the remainder of the implant a plurality of flexible barbs circumferentially distributed about the implant and inclined inwardly away from the free end thereof while being capable of flexing substantially radially toward and away from the part of the implant which carries the barbs, and then introducing the implant into the interior of a tubular organ with the free end of the implant entering first in advance of the barbs while simultaneously placing in engagement with the tubular organ at the exterior thereof a tool which is capable of being mainpulated for pulling the tubular organ over the implant to an extent sufficient to situate an interior surface of the tubular organ inwardly beyond the barbs while deflecting the latter radially toward the part of the implant which carries the barbs, so that the barbs will oppose longitudinal retraction of the tubular organ from the implant without injuring the tubular organ during introduction of the implant, situating on the implant inwardly of and adjacent the barbs a tissue-ingrowth means into which tissue of the tubular organ will grow from the inner surface of the tubular organ, so that said barbs act to immobilize the part of the tubular organ which engages the tissue ingrowth means to promote an undisturbed growth of tissue into the ingrowth mean, said tool being in the form of tweezers having teeth which are inserted into the tubular organ, said tweezer teeth being circumferentially distributed about the tubular organ, and angularly situating the latter teeth in longitudinal alignment with spaces between the barbs so that as the tweezer teeth and barbs move past each other the tweezer teeth will be circumferentially aligned with spaces between the barbs.

Claim 5

In a method as recited in claim 2 and wherein the tubular organ is a vas deferens and the implant is a valve.

Claim 6

In a method as recited in claim 3 and wherein the valve has a central portion and a pair of elongated tubular portions extending coaxially in opposite directions from the central portion, and carrying out said steps on both of the elongated portions of the valve.

Claim 7

In an implant which is to be situated in a tubular body organ, an elongated member having a free end which is to be introduced first into the tubular body organ in advance of the part of said elongated member which extends from said free end thereof, flexible barb means, and fixing means connected to said flexible barb means and carried by said member inwardly of said free end thereof for fixing said flexible barb means thereto in a position inclined inwardly away from said free end to be deflected substantially radially toward said elongated member by an inner surface of the tubular organ, whereby said flexible barb means provides substantially no resistance to introduction of the implant into the tubular organ while automatically opposing retraction of the tubular organ from the implant, and tissue-ingrowth means carried by said elongated member adjacent said flexible barb means at the side thereof opposite from said free end so that said flexible barb means act to immobilize an inner surface of the tubular organ with respect to said tissue-ingrowth means.

Claim 8

In an implant which is to be situated in a tubular body organ, an elongated member having a free end which is to be introduced first into the tubular body organ in advance of the part of said elongated member which extends from said free end thereof, flexible barb means, and fixing means connected to said flexible barb means and carried by said member inwardly of said free end thereof for fixing said flexible barb means thereto in a position inclined inwardly away from said free end to be deflected substantially radially toward said elongated member by an inner surface of the tubular organ, whereby said flexible barb means provides substantially no resistance to introduction of the implant into the tubular organ while automatically opposing retraction of the tubular organ from the implant, and tissue-ingrowth means carried by said elongated member adjacent said flexible barb means at the side thereof opposite from said free end so that said flexible barb means act to immobilize an inner surface of the tubular organ with respect to said tissue-ingrowth means.

Claim 9

The combination of claim 5 and wherein said barb means includes barbs made of metal.

Claim 10

The combination of claim 5 and wherein said barb means includes barbs made of plastic.

Claim 11

The combination of claim 5 and wherein said barb means includes barbs made of a material capable of being absorbed by the body.

Claim 12

In an implant which is to be situated in a tubular body organ, an elongated member having a free end which is to be introduced first into the tubular body organ in advance of the part of said elongated member which extends from said free end thereof, flexible barb means, and fixing means connected to said flexible barb means and carried by said member inwardly of said free end thereof for fixing said flexible barb means thereto in a position inclined inwardly away from said free end to be deflected substantially radially toward said elongated member by an inner surface of the tubular organ, whereby said flexible barb means provides substantially no reistance to introduction of the implant into the tubular organ while automatically opposing retraction of the tubular organ from the implant, said elongated member forming part of a valve to be introduced into a vas deferens, said valve having a central portion on one side of which said elongated member is located and including a second elongated member situated on the opposite side of said central portion from said first-mentioned elongated member and being symmetrical therewith, both of said elongated members having diameters small enough to be situated in the lumen of a vas deferens and said elongated members respectively carrying said fixing means connected to said flexible barb means, and both of said flexible barb means being inclined inwardly away from the free ends of said elongated members toward said central portiton of said valve for yielding radially inwardly toward said elongated members when the latter are introduced into the lumen of a vas deferens while tending to dig into the inner surface of the vas deferens in response to any tendency for the elongated members to be removed from the vas deferens so that said flexible barb means hold said elongated members reliably in the lumen of a vas deferens.

Claim 13

In an implant which is to be situated in a tubular body organ, an elongated member having a free end which is to be introduced first into the tubular body organ in advance of the part of said elongated member which extends from said free end thereof, flexible barb means, and fixing means connected to said flexible barb means and carried by said member inwardly of said free end thereof for fixing said flexible barb means thereto in a position inclined inwardly away from said free end to be deflected substantially radially toward said elongated member by an inner surface of the tubular organ, whereby said flexible barb means provides substantially no reistance to introduction of the implant into the tubular organ while automatically opposing retraction of the tubular organ from the implant, said elongated member forming part of a valve to be introduced into a vas deferens, said valve having a central portion on one side of which said elongated member is located and including a second elongated member situated on the opposite side of said central portion from said first-mentioned elongated member and being symmetrical therewith, both of said elongated members having diameters small enough to be situated in the lumen of a vas deferens and said elongated members respectively carrying said fixing means connected to said flexible barb means, and both of said flexible barb means being inclined inwardly away from the free ends of said elongated members toward said central portiton of said valve for yielding radially inwardly toward said elongated members when the latter are introduced into the lumen of a vas deferens while tending to dig into the inner surface of the vas deferens in response to any tendency for the elongated members to be removed from the vas deferens so that said flexible barb means hold said elongated members reliably in the lumen of a vas deferens.

Claim 14

In an implant which is to be situated in a tubular body organ, an elongated member having a free end which is to be introduced first into the tubular body organ in advance of the part of said elongated member which extends from said free end thereof, flexible barb means, and fixing means connected to said flexible barb means and carried by said member inwardly of said free end thereof for fixing said flexible barb means thereto in a position inclined inwardly away from said free end to be deflected substantially radially toward said elongated member by an inner surface of the tubular organ, whereby said flexible barb means provides substantially no resistance to introduction of the implant into the tubular organ while automatically opposing retraction of the tubular organ from the implant, said elongated member forming part of a valve to be introduced into a vas deferens, said valve having a central portion on one side of which said elongated member is located and including a second elongated member situated on the opposite side of said central portion from said first-mentioned elongated member and being symmetrical therewith, both of said elongated members respectively carrying said fixing means connected to said flexible barb means, and both of said flexible barb means being inclined inwardly away from the free ends of said elongated members toward said central portion of said valve, said elongated members carrying a tissue-ingrowth means between and adjacent said flexible barb means.

Claim 15

In an implant which is to be situated in a tubular body organ, an elongated member having a free end which is to be introduced first into the tubular body organ in advance of the part of said elongated member which extends from said free end thereof, flexible barb means, and fixing means connected to said flexible barb means and carried by said member inwardly of said free end thereof for fixing said flexible barb means thereto in a position inclined inwardly away from said free end to be deflected substantially radially toward said elongated member by an inner surface of the tubular organ, whereby said flexible barb means provides substantially no resistance to introduction of the implant into the tubular organ while automatically opposing retraction of the tubular organ from the implant, said elongated member forming part of a valve to be introduced into a vas deferens, said valve having a central portion on one side of which said elongated member is located and including a second elongated member situated on the opposite side of said central portion from said first-mentioned elongated member and being symmetrical therewith, both of said elongated members respectively carrying said fixing means connected to said flexible barb means, and both of said flexible barb means being inclined inwardly away from the free ends of said elongated members toward said central portion of said valve, said elongated members carrying a tissue-ingrowth means between and adjacent said flexible barb means.