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:
Oct. 29, 2002
Filed:
Sep. 18, 2000
Ananias Diokno, Ann Arbor, MI (US);
German Borodulin, San Francisco, CA (US);
Alexander Shkolnik, San Carlos, CA (US);
Other;
Abstract
An inflatable vaginal pessary of the invention, which can be mechanically inserted into and removed from the patient's vagina, comprises a tapered body inflatable at its large-diameter side and having an axial channel inflation of the pessary. This channel passes from the small-diameter end to the inflatable chamber and has a check valve at the outer end of the channel for inflation of the pessary. The pessary can be connected to and disconnected from a mechanism for insertion and removal of the pessary into and from the vaginal cavity. This mechanism has a hollow tubular housing with a funnel-like finder for engagement with the tapered end of the pessary. On the bottom of the finder the pessary installation mechanism has a threaded tubular stem that could be screwed into the threaded opening on the tapered end of the pessary. On the proximal end the mechanism has a pumping bulb for inflating the pessary via the check valve by squeezing the bulb, in the same manner as inflation of the occlusive cuff in a manually-operated blood-pressure measuring apparatus. The pessary of the invention can be easily installed into the patient's vagina by the patient herself. For this purpose, the pessary is connected to the aforementioned mechanism, inserted by the patient into an appropriate position inside her vagina, inflated to a required degree in order to fix the pessary in place, and is then disconnected from the mechanism for use during the day. In its inflated state with an increase diameter the pessary compresses the urethra through the vaginal wall and thus reduces the cross section of the urethral lumen. At the end of the day before the bed time, the patient easily reconnects the mechanism to the pessary, deflates the pessary, and removes the latter by means of the same mechanism.