Genzyme Corporation

The General Hospital Corporation

Children's Medical Center Corporation

Pluromed, Inc.

W Scott McDougal

Alexander Schwarz

Jean-Marie Vogel

Dianne E Sacco

Bruce R Zetter

Shahin Tabatabaei

Adam S Feldman

Dianne E Saaco

One aspect of the present invention relates to a method of using peristalsis to force a polymer plug through a mammalian lumen, thereby removing any calculi and/or calculi fragments present in the lumen. In one embodiment, the method is used as an alternative to conventional lithotripsy. In another embodiment, the method is used in conjunction with lithotripsy, thereby removing the small calculi fragments that result from such procedures.

Non-lithotripsic kidney-stone therapy

The present invention improves significantly the success rate of lithotripsy and reduces the risk of tissue damage, by injecting a temporary plug in front, and optionally behind a concretion (for extracorporeal lithotripsy) or behind a concretion (for intracorporeal lithotripsy). One aspect of the present invention relates to injecting an inverse thermosensitive polymer solution into a lumen, thereby preventing the migration of a concretion, or its fragments, upon extracorporeal or intracorporeal lithotripsy.

Confinement of kidney stone fragments during lithotripsy

The present invention is based on the discovery that three proteins, Cystatin B, Chaperonin 10, and Profilin are present in the urine of patients with bladder cancer, a cancer of epithelial origin. Accordingly, the present invention is directed to methods for prognostic evaluation of cancers of epithelial origin and to methods for facilitating diagnosis of cancers of epithelial origin by monitoring the presence of these markers in biological samples. The invention is also directed to markers for therapeutic efficacy.

Method for diagnosis and prognosis of epithelial cancers

A clot evacuation catheter includes a hollow tubular body disposed within an outer lumen. The tubular body is elongate and includes a selectively rotatable cutting blade disposed within a distal portion thereof to cut clots occluded in at least one opening of the cutting blade. The tubular body also includes a fluid conveying irrigation lumen to deliver fluid to a distal end of the catheter at predetermined times. In an alternative embodiment of the present invention, a hood member extends from the distal portion of the tubular body. The hood member has a distal end that is spaced from, but coaxial with, the distal portion of the tubular body through a side portion of the hood member.

Clot evacuation catheter

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Manchester, MA, United States of America

W Scott McDougal