Cook Medical Technologies LLC

Med Institute Incorporated

Vance Products Inc.

Cook Urological, Inc.

Gary L Butler

Neal E Fearnot

Brian L Bates

Frank J Fischer, Jr

Thomas L Foster

Edward D Pingleton

Ralph V Clayman

Walter N Ryan

Andrew W Conder

John Denstedt

Timothy G Vendrely

Donald R Hollinger

Hassan Razvi

A rigid extractor is revealed, a rigid device for use in percutaneous procedures to remove kidney stones directly from the kidneys. The rigid extractor uses a handle fixed to an outer rigid cannula, and an inner cannula to control an extraction device that may be removable from the inner cannula. The extractor is desirably used with a fluoroscope, in which the surgeon maneuvers the extractor with the aid of a view of the operating field provided by the fluoroscope. The surgeon then maneuvers the extractor to grasp the kidney stones and remove from the patient. The extractor may also be used with a nephroscope. The device may be used with a removable extraction device such as a basket, a grasper a pair of jaws, or a pair of scissors.

Handle for interchangeable medical device

Double ended wire guides are manufactured so that either end, or both ends sequentially, may be inserted into a patient. The ends are different, so that the inventory requirements of wire guides are minimized. For example, a wire guide may have a straight end and an angled end, either end suitable for use on the patient. The wire guides may also differ in other characteristics, such as the stiffness or the diameters of the distal and proximal portions. The wire guide may also be stored in a package, the package including a fitting so that wetting solution may be injected into the package to wet the wire guide and prepare it for use.

Double ended wire guide

A pneumatic tissue dissector 10 useful for cutting or dissecting living tissue during endoscopic or laparoscopic procedures includes a dissector tip 16 for exuding a flow of pressurized gas, an inlet arrangement 24 for controlling the flow of gas from the tip 16, and an exhaust system 30 for exhausting the gas exuded from the tip 16. The exhaust system includes an inlet 32 adjacent to the tip 16 and an outlet spaced from the inlet 32. The outlet 34 is operable in coordination with the inlet arrangement 24 and is capable of exhausting a flow of gas about equal to that exuded by the tip 16, ensuring that the pressure in the cavity in which the procedure is performed does not increase or fluctuate. The flow of pressurized gas from the tip 16 is preferably compatible with an insufflation cavity pressure of no more than about 15 mm Hg, and the inlet arrangement 24 preferably supplies gas to the tip 16 at a pressure of no more than about 50 psi. The dissector 10 preferably further includes a laparoscopic introducer sheath 68 which is shorter in length than the distance between the inlet 32 and the outlet 34.

Pneumatic tissue dissector with exhaust system

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Bloomington, IN, United States of America

Gary L Butler