Abstract: The present invention provides an orthopedic casting article comprising an apertured, extruded sheet. The present invention also provides a method of enclosing a body member, comprising the steps of: heating an apertured, extruded sheet comprising a low temperature thermoplastic polymer having a softening or melting temperature less than about 90.degree. C.; wrapping the article about the body member; and molding the wrapped article about the body member such that the article is used as an orthopedic casting material and has a sufficient number of apertures after application to the patient to allow moisture vapors produced by the skin to freely escape through the cast or splint.

Abstract: The present invention provides an article comprising a curable resin and a filler associated with the resin. The incorporation of fillers into the casting materials of the present invention adds substantially to the strength of the cured casting material as well as to the handling properties of the uncured casting tape or bandage. The incorporation of fillers into the casting materials of the present invention also imparts air and vapor porosity to the cured casting materials. If desired articles of the present invention may also incorporate fibers (either individually, bundled, or in the form of a light-weight scrim) to provide increased cohesiveness to the uncured article. Extremely moldable casting tapes are also provided which comprise a highly-filled composite material coated on a light-weight scrim. The casting tapes of this embodiment handle like traditional plaster of Paris casts yet cure to a weight-bearing cast in less than one hour.

Abstract: An implantable, refillable, rate-controlled drug delivery device, with a hollow reservoir, and a drug delivery tube communicating with the hollow reservoir. The drug delivery tube includes at least one rate-limiting permeable membrane which regulates drug delivery. A method of controlling the delivery of a drug to an internal portion of a body is disclosed.

Abstract: The invention discloses a method for treating brain and associated nervous tissue injury. The invention also discloses a method for preserving organs in brain-dead humans or cadavers which allows additional time for the organs to remain viable such that they may be harvested for subsequent transplantation. Also disclosed is a method for organ preservation which employs body cavity perfusion. The methods include the introduction of temperature-controlled solutions to slow the metabolism of the brain, associated nervous tissue or organ(s) to inhibit degeneration thereof. A device which performs these methods is also disclosed. The device includes a fluid reservoir, an oxygen source, a heat exchanger and removable catheter lines.

Abstract: A method for morselating and removing the morselated tissue through a small incision comprising in general inserting a tissue container into the body cavity of a patient through an incision, placing resected tissue in the vessel, inserting a morselator having a rotatable electrode thereon through the incision and into the vessel, morselating the tissue and removing the tissue from the containment vessel and the body. An apparatus for morselating and removing tissue through a small incision within the body cavity of a patient is also disclosed and may comprise a tissue container having an inner chamber for containing resected tissue, and a morselator having a proximal end and a distal end carrying an electrode wherein the distal end is insertable into the body cavity and containment vessel for morselating resected tissue.

Abstract: A system and method is provided which substantially eliminates the effect of air entrapped in tubing for delivering a liquid from a container. The inner diameter of the tubing is selected such that the gravitational force of the liquid from the container is greater than the surface tension of the liquid. A release agent may be used as a coating layer on the interior wall in addition to or alternatively from an expanded diameter.

Abstract: A wound dressing, suitable for use in protecting an open wound or burned tissue from direct exposure to air and capable of maintaining an aqueous environment of wounded tissue with which it is in brought into contact is comprised of a hydrophilic, yet insoluble material, advantageously a polymeric compound capable of being reversibly complexed with elemental iodine, thereby permitting release of therapeutic amounts of free iodine into a wound with which it is brought in contact. As a shaped mass of pliable and absorbent material, such a polymeric foam, such dressing is particularly suited for application to fresh and infected burns and open wounds. When alternatively configured as a hydrophilic film complexed with free iodine for use as a surgical drape, in addition to providing a barrier against direct exposure to air, such dressing is bacteriocidal, preventing infection of the wound from airborne contaminants in the operating room.

Abstract: Methods and devices for dissociating multimeric proteins and their delivery to patients, along with resultant compositions, are provided. A monomeric protein delivery device is also provided, comprising a supply of a multimeric protein 4, complex, comprising multimeric protein and an aggregating agent; a flow path having a subcutaneous exit 8, fluidly coupling the multimeric protein supply to the exit; a porous surface assembly situated along the flow path comprising a porous surface 10; and an aggregating agent binding partner carried by the surface 12; whereby the aggregating agent of the multimeric protein complex passing along the surface is bound to the binding partner on the surface to create a monomeric protein flow through the subcutaneous exit.

Abstract: The invention relates to an active perfusion dilatation catheter. More particularly, the invention relates to an active perfusion dilatation catheter comprising a catheter shaft having proximal and distal portions and one or more inflation lumens extending therethrough; an inflatable dilatation balloon positioned external to the distal portion of the catheter shaft and in fluid communication with an inflation lumen; an occlusion balloon positioned external to the distal portion of the catheter shaft and proximal to the dilatation balloon and in fluid communication with an inflation lumen; and a perfusion lumen at the distal portion of the catheter shaft, the perfusion lumen having proximal and distal openings, the proximal opening being located proximal to the occlusion balloon and the distal opening being located distal to the inflation balloon.

Abstract: An improved barrier or drug delivery system which is highly adherent to the surface to which it is applied is disclosed, along with methods for making for making the barrier. In the preferred embodiment, tissue is stained with a photoinitiator, then the polymer solution or gel having added thereto a defined amount of the same or a different photoinitator is applied to the tissue. On exposure to light, the resulting system polymerizes at the surface, giving excellent adherence, and also forms a gel in the rest of the applied volume. Thus a gel barrier of arbitrary thickness can be applied to a surface while maintaining high adherence at the interface. This process is referred to herein as "priming". The polymerizable barrier materials are highly useful for sealing tissue surfaces and junctions against leaks of fluids. In another embodiment, "priming" can be used to reliably adhere preformed barriers to tissue or other surfaces, or to adhere tissue surfaces to each other.

Abstract: An improved viscosurgical method involving the administration of a viscoelastic and a corresponding degradative agent, such that the post-operative intraocular pressure spike often observed following the use of viscoelastics in ophthalmic surgery is minimized, and an apparatus and clinical kit useful in the method are provided.

Abstract: Devices for providing polymeric layers on the interior surface of body lumens and spaces are disclosed. The devices can include proximal and distal occlusion elements to define the treatment space and an optical emitter to provide light for a photopolymerization procedure. The devices may include a molding member for providing a thick polymeric gel. Alternatively, devices without a molding member may be used to carry out an interfacial polymerization procedure.

Abstract: An elongated flexible housing for an atherectomy or other intracorporeal catheter which is formed of a shape memory alloy such ass an alloy formed predominantly of NiTi intermetallic compound. The housing preferably has an inner chamber with a tissue cutter or other diagnostic or therapeutic system provided within the chamber to sever stenotic material which is urged into the chamber through a opening or window in the housing. In one embodiment the housing has at least one section which is relatively flexible with adjacent sections which are relatively stiff to provide an increase in the overall flexibility of the housing.

Abstract: The luer adapter of this invention includes a barbed portion having a generally cylindrical distal portion, a generally conical portion, a generally cylindrical portion and a generally outwardly tapered proximal portion. The shape of the barb is substantially the same as the shape of the lumen at the proximal end of a catheter but is slightly larger radially and slightly shorter axially than the proximal portion of the lumen. This ensures that when the barb is inserted into the proximal portion of the lumen the luer adapter is positively locked to the catheter.

Abstract: Restenosis in recanalized blood vessels is inhibited by delivering tissue factor pathway inhibitor (TFPI) intramurally at a target site within the blood vessel. Usually, TFPI is delivered using a catheter having infusion ports at its distal end. Optionally at the distal end of the catheter is radially expanded to engage the infusion ports directly against the blood vessel wall.

Abstract: A surgical dressing consisting of a film which carries an adhesive layer wherein the film has a hydration rate of at least 0.1 g/in.sup.2 /min.; becomes saturated when in contact with water in 3 minutes or less and absorbs at least its own weight of water. The film comprises a polyethylene oxide and a polymer or polymers selected from an ether based polyurethane and a polyether block amide. The dressing finds special use as a IV catheter site cover.

Abstract: The present invention provides a low-profile balloon catheter which is extremely maneuverable and capable of dilating an occluded artery with minimal risk of angina. The catheter is highly maneuverable because its distal section has substantially coaxial inner and outer tubes which are in relatively tight mechanical communication at their proximal end and their distal ends are mechanically connected only via the balloon. As a result, the inner distal tube is relatively independent of the outer distal tube. The proximal section of the catheter is relatively stiff and preferably has two lumens therethrough. One lumen, which is substantially larger, is used to actively perfuse oxygenated blood, drugs, or dyes distal to the tip of the catheter at flowrates up to about 100 cc/min. Preferably, the inner surface of this first perfusion lumen has a shape at its inner surface that permits the second, smaller lumen to "nest" adjacent to and substantially within said inner surface of said first perfusion lumen.

Abstract: A method for diagnosing vasculogenic erectile dysfunction, including vasculogenic impotence and Peyronie's syndrome, is provided. The method involves transurethral administration of a vasodilating agent to induce an erection, followed by hemodynamic evaluation using duplex ultrasonography, NMR, angiography, or the like. Kits for conducting the diagnostic method are provided as well, as are methods of treatment based on the diagnostic conclusion.

Abstract: A plastic blood chamber comprises a chamber-defining wall having a first blood inlet port adjacent to the end of the chamber and a blood outlet port adjacent typically the opposed end of the chamber. The inlet port is positioned in separate, lateral relation with the chamber, and has a conduit extending longitudinally of the chamber from the inlet port toward a central chamber portion in such separate, lateral relation to the chamber. The conduit curves into communication with the chamber in a transverse direction at an inlet position in the central chamber portion. A second portion of the chamber which is laterally opposed to the inlet position of the conduit defines a sloping shoulder to turn lateral blood flow from the conduit gently upwardly to define a gentle, circulatory flow of blood in an upper portion of the chamber. The chamber upper portion has a wall that carries projections to create blood flow eddys that slow the upward motion of bubbles present.

Abstract: An expandable external radiopaque marker band is situated external to the balloon of a balloon angioplasty catheter typically at the balloon's longitudinal center. When the balloon is inflated to dilate an arterial stenosis, the external radiopaque marker band is moved radially outward by the balloon thereby forcing the external radiopaque marker band into the arterial wall. When the balloon is then deflated, the external radiopaque marker band remains in place against the wall of the dilated stenosis. The balloon angioplasty catheter can then be removed from the artery while the expanded external radiopaque marker band remains in place to indicate (typically) the center position of the dilated stenosis. The external radiopaque marker band is typically made from a dense, radiopaque metal such as tantalum, gold, platinum or an alloy of those dense metals.