Medinvent S.a.

Ferromec S.a.

Laurent Kropf

Umberto Damone

Hugues Baumgartner

The instrument comprises an outer tube (1) fixed to the end of a flexible sheath (2), and an inner tube (3) displaceable in the outer tube and equipped with a head (5), to which is fixed a cylindrical casing (7) which has an inner boss (15). Arranged inside this casing are blades (10, 11) which are held axially on the outer tube by means of a collar (14) and which can swivel on the outer tube, this swiveling being ensured by the cylindrical casing (7), to be more precise by its end and by its inner boss (15) acting as a cam. This instrument, which is particularly robust, is intended for the removal of deposits formed on the inner walls of the arteries or veins.

Medical instrument for the removal of deposits formed on the inner walls

There is provided a device for inserting an object in the form of a helical spring element with a radially variable configuration into a space which is difficult to access, particularly for medicinal use in implanting such an object in a living organism, which device includes an elongate probe, having at its insertion end a mandrel coaxial with the probe, the mandrel carrying two axially separate fasteners for the respective ends of the element, the fasteners being mutually, relatively rotatable about the axis of the mandrel for permitting the spring element to be wound tightly round the mandrel while the radial configuration of said element contracts, before insertion into the space. The fasteners are mutually connected by a transmission in the area of the mandrel. The transmission includes a freewheel which allows relative rotation for the fasteners solely in a first rotational direction for winding the spring element round the mandrel, and also includes a clutch, adapted such that on activation it allows mutual relative rotation of the fasteners, in a second opposite rotational direction. As an alternative to the clutch, one of the fasteners includes a triggering member, which is adapted such that on activation it releases the end of the spring element, tightly wound up on the mandrel, from this fastener to allow the spring element to unwind, while its radial configuration expands toward its original state. The clutch of triggering member is actuable from the end of the device remote from the mandrel.

Insertion device

A planar blank is provided which permits the manufacture of a coil spring suitable for implantation. The blank has an elongated, essentially straight mid section which at its ends passes over into sections that are bent in the plane of the blank in opposite directions to form a blank having Z-shape. A coil spring made from the blank (in which the spring material as seen in cross section has radially flattened shape) at its ends has a lower pitch than the mid section or no pitch at all.

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Penthaz, Switzerland

Laurent Kropf