Retrograde dissector and method for facilitating a TRAM flap
US5653726A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | May 13, 1996 |
| Grant date | Aug 5, 1997 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | May 13, 2016 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC A)Human Necessities
- CPC primaryA61B2017/320044
- WIPO fieldMedical technology
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
For surgery, an endoscopic retrograde dissector instrument and less invasive method for bluntly dissecting tissue planes overlying and underlying a rectus abdominus muscle to mobilize the muscle in a transverse abdominal mastoplasty (breast reconstruction). The retrograde dissector includes an elongate blunt-tipped guide member that carries a distal inflatable sleeve. The blunt tip of the guide member is advanced distally along a plane in the interior of the body thereby creating a small diameter dissected track. The distal inflatable sleeve is inflated and then pulled in a retrograde movement along the track to dissect a wide tissue plane laterally on each side of the track in a single efficient step. A pulse mechanism rapidly pulsates the inflated sleeve to facilitate the dissection of connective tissues along planes of least resistance to create a relatively blood-free dissected tissue plane.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.