Devices for occluding channels in living mammals

Abstract

A method of blocking channels in a mammal which channels normally carry a material from one point to another is carried out by injecting a heated flowable polymer into the channel and allowing the polymer to cool and solidify, thus creating a plug or channel occluder. The plug can be later removed physically in its solid form or removed gradually by softening and/or fluidizing it by heating and/or chemical means. The channel occluder is preferably comprised of a main chain or side-chain crystallizable polymer but may be comprised of other polymers provided the polymers are formulated to have certain characteristics. The polymers must be solid and/or non-flowable at body temperature or lower and flowable when heated slightly above body temperature, i.e., 10 centigrade degrees or less above body temperature. The polymer is capable of changing quickly from a flowable state to a non-flowable state by moving through only a few centigrade degrees of temperature and is a non-immunogenic, biocompatible material. Typical channels which may be reversibly occluded via the present invention include the vas deferens, the mature sperm excretory channel of the testis; the fallopian tube or oviduct, the viaduct conveying the ovum from the ovary to the uterus; the canaliculus lacrimalis, the passageway that allows excess tears to flow from the puncta of the eye to the lacrimal sac; and the cavity of the femoral shaft to fix the stem of replacement hip joint (ball and neck).