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:
Dec. 22, 2015
Filed:
Sep. 03, 2009
Steven M. Zeitels, Newton, MA (US);
Robert Edward Hillman, Weston, MA (US);
Sandeep Sidram Karajanagi, Malden, MA (US);
Robert S. Langer, Newton, MA (US);
Steven M. Zeitels, Newton, MA (US);
Robert Edward Hillman, Weston, MA (US);
Sandeep Sidram Karajanagi, Malden, MA (US);
Robert S. Langer, Newton, MA (US);
The General Hospital Corporation, Boston, MA (US);
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA (US);
Abstract
The present invention provides hydrogels and compositions thereof for vocal cord repair or augmentation, as well as other soft tissue repair or augmentation (e.g., bladder neck augmentation, dermal fillers, breast implants, intervertebral disks, muscle-mass). The hydrogels or compositions thereof are injected into the superficial lamina propria or phonatory epithelium to restore the phonatory mucosa of the vocal cords, thereby restoring a patient's voice. In particular, it has been discovered that hydrogels with an elastic shear modulus of approximately 25 Pa are useful in restoring the pliability of the phonatory mucosa. The invention also provides methods of preparing and using the inventive hydrogels.