Loading device for a pulmonary implant

US8100959B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• Pulmonx Corporation · US

Inventors

• Like Que · Livermore, US
• Hoang Nguyen · San Jose, US
• Son Gia · San Jose, US
• Ajitkumar Nair · Fremont, US
• Roger Farnholtz · Fremont, US
• George Surjan · San Jose, US
• Andrew Huffmaster · Fremont, US
• Jeffrey A. Lee · Plymouth, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Mar 6, 2008
• Grant date: Jan 24, 2012
• Expiry date: Oct 11, 2029

Classification

• Technology area (CPC A): Human Necessities
• CPC primary: A61F2002/043
• WIPO field: Medical technology
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

Devices for loading a collapsible implant onto a delivery catheter. In one aspect, a loading device comprises an outer tubular structure and an inner tubular structure. The outer tubular structure comprises a narrowing passage configured to receive a catheter at one end and a collapsible implant at another end. The inner tubular structure is configured to move slidably and co-axially within the outer tubular structure. The inner tubular structure comprises a carrier pin configured to move within the narrowing passage as the inner tubular structure slides into the outer tubular structure. The sliding of the inner tubular structure into the outer tubular structure causes an implant mounted on the carrier pin to collapse as the implant moves through the narrowing passage and into the distal end of a catheter. In an optional aspect, the outer tubular structure further comprises a grasper to stabilize the catheter for receipt of the collapsible implant, and the internal diameter of the inner tubular structure varies to cause the grasper to first contract and stabilize the catheter, and then expand and release the catheter, as the grasper moves into the inner tubular structure.