The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jul. 13, 1999
Filed:
Jan. 16, 1998
German Borodulin, San Francisco, CA (US);
Alexander Shkolnik, San Carlos, CA (US);
Maxim Persidsky, San Francisco, CA (US);
Other;
Abstract
A vibratory device (20) for treating female voiding dysfunctions, such as urinary stress incontinence, by inserting it into a patient's urinary tract and imparting vibrations to the urethral walls and the bladder neck. The device is made in the form of a urological bougie (23) which has a distal end and a proximal end and consists of two resilient rods (26 and 28). The rods are removably interconnected at their distal ends by means of two short extensions (52a and 52b) which are inserted into a cup-shaped cavity (68). This cavity is formed at the end of a cam (66). The cam has an elliptical or oval shape and is driven into rotation from a rotary drive unit (24) through a cam shaft (64) which passes through the hole formed by grooves (54) on the mating surface of the rods. Due to the elliptical configuration of the cam, its rotation causes expansion of the rods (26 and 28). The rods, however, cannot be disconnected during the operation, as their projections (52a and 52b) are confined within the cup-shaped cavity. The probe is covered by a rubber condom-like shell (30) which protects the mucosa of the patient's urethra from pinching. At the same time the outer shell prevents leaking of the urine from the patient's bladder during the treatment procedure. With the shell the vibratory treatment can be carried out with the bladder being filled. In this case vibration can be transmitted to the detrusor muscles, i.e., to the bladder walls. As a result, the vibratory treatment can be more efficiently used.