Abstract: A device (10) for extracting biliary or urinary stones, calculi or the like (stones 104) from the biliary or urinary tract (100) of a patient including a catheter shaft (12), a first expandable apparatus for dilating the tract entrance or the sphincter thereat, and a second expandable apparatus for capturing the stone and/or urging it out of the tract. The first expandable apparatus may be an inflatable balloon (14) fixed on the catheter shaft (12), and the second expandable apparatus may be a second inflatable balloon (18) fixed on the catheter shaft or on a second tube telescopically associated with the catheter shaft, or may be a reversibly collapsible extraction basket (154) such as of nitinol wires, that is slidably receivable in and extendable from the catheter shaft (112).

Abstract: A stent introducer apparatus includes a handle with a proximal end and a distal end and having a portion that is coaxially slidable from the distal end to the proximal end and vice versa. A catheter having a proximal end and a distal end is provided with a pair of open end slits each of which defines a tab that is connected to the slidable portion of the handle. A guide wire is disposed within the catheter and has a proximal end and a distal end such that when the slidable portion of the handle is moved from the distal end to the proximal end, the distal end of the guide wire is exposed. The guide wire has a stent carrying portion at its distal end to carry a stent that is deployed when the distal end of the guide wire is exposed.

Abstract: The present invention involves a elongated member, such as a wire guide, that is used with in a endoscopic procedure. In one aspect of the invention, the elongate member includes a first system of indicia comprising a scale reference markings that can include numeric indicia, sequentially increasing markers, etc., located at regular increments (e.g., 1 cm) on the distal portion of the elongate member, that permit measurement of structures within a body passage. In one example, an exchange wire guide having a radiopaque marker on the distal portion is positioned under fluoroscopy at a first location, such as the distal point of a stricture, and the scale reference marking on the wire guide that visible in the viewing region of the endoscope is read. The wire guide is partially withdrawn such that the marker corresponds to a second position (e.g., the proximal point of the stricture) and the new scale reference marking is read. The difference is calculated to determine the length of the structure.

Abstract: A medical device for heat treatment of patient tissue includes an electrically conductive wire guide. The wire guide has a distal end and a proximal portion. A connector is disposed on the proximal portion of the wire guide for providing electrical power to the wire guide, thereby enabling the distal end of the wire guide to heat the patient tissue.

Abstract: Disclosed is a pressure sensitive prosthesis (10) that includes a tubular member (11) having a passageway (12) extending therethrough and a sleeve (13) attached about one end of the tubular member. The sleeve functions as a one-way valve to permit fluid flowing through the sleeve lumen (15) in a first direction (17) and under a first pressure, while collapsing in response to fluid flowing in a second direction 18 where the pressure that exceeds that of the first direction or pressure. One aspect of the invention includes an esophageal anti-reflux expandable prosthesis wherein the sleeve is adapted to invert back through the tubular stent frame to permit belching or vomiting (fluid or materials under a third, significantly higher pressure). Another aspect of the invention includes a tubular drainage stent (60), such as a biliary or urethral stent in which the sleeve opens to permit passage of fluids, then collapses to prevent retrograde flow.

Abstract: A medical device for heat treatment of patient tissue includes an electrically conductive wire guide. The wire guide has a distal end and a proximal portion. A connector is disposed on the proximal portion of the wire guide for providing electrical power to the wire guide, thereby enabling the distal end of the wire guide to heat the patient tissue.

Abstract: A peel-away endoscopic retrograde cholangio pancreatography catheter and a method for using the same is provided. An endoscope having a passage therethrough is introduced into the mouth of a patient and is guided through the patent's gastroentral tract until an opening at the distal end of the endoscope is in close proximity with the papilla of vater leading to the common bile and pancreatic ducts. A peel-away ERCP catheter is provided which may be guided through the lumen of the endoscope until the distal tip of the catheter emerges from the opening at the distal end of the endoscope. The distal end of the catheter may be guided through the sphincter of oddi and into the common bile or pancreatic duct. A radiopaque dye may be injected through the catheter, into the duct. Additionally, a guide wire may be guided into the common bile or pancreatic duct through the catheter.

Abstract: A stylet wire assembly is disclosed which sealingly engages the proximal end of a medical catheter, and allows the unobstructed injection or evacuation of fluids into or from a patient's body through the catheter while the stylet wire is in place therein. The disclosed assembly includes a stylet wire and a housing. The housing has a catheter fluid communication port at its distal end and anchors the stylet wire into its closed proximal end with the stylet wire extending through the catheter fluid communication port at the distal end of the housing. This anchoring is accomplished by means of a plug which has been injection molded about the crimped proximal end of the stylet wire and bonded to the distal end of the remainder of the housing. An external fluid communication port allows for fluid communication into and out of said housing in transverse orientation relative to the axis of said stylet wire within said housing and distally of the anchoring of the stylet wire into the proximal end of the housing.

Abstract: A catheter for intubating a stoma formed by a percutaneous endoscopic technique includes a multi-lumen tube and an inflatable cuff for retaining the catheter in place. The tube includes a fluid lumen for conveying fluid into a patient and an inflation lumen having a port in communication with the interior of the cuff to allow for the egress and ingress of fluid to the cuff. The cuff has contained therein a resilient sponge-like material which has the property that it will remain in its compressed state for an ascertainable period of time after having been maintained in the compressed state for a predetermined period of time, e.g., at least 24 hours. A period of time, not less than the predetermined period of time, prior to the intubation procedure, the cuff is compressed to expel air from the cuff through the inflation lumen and to compress the sponge-like material inside the cuff. A tubular sleeve is applied to the outside of the cuff to maintain the cuff and sponge-like material in its collapsed state.

Abstract: A method of fabrication of a sphincterotome, such as a papillotome, for surgical cutting using an electrically conductive cutter wire. The sphincterotome includes a multi-lumen tubular member, with one lumen having an electrical conductor disposed therein, and the other lumen having a reinforcing wire disposed therein. The reinforcing wire is preferably rectangular in cross-section, providing a greater moment of inertia in a resisting axis than in a bending axis. Accordingly, the cutting edge of the cutting wire may be oriented to the 12 o'clock position of the papillary orifice to avoid injury to the duodenal wall or pancreatic duct in the patient, and to maintain the cutting edge in a predetermined cutting plane. Fluoroscopic indicating stripes may be provided at the distal end of the sphincterotome.

Abstract: A sphincterotome, such as a papillotome, is disclosed for surgical cutting using an electrically conductive cutter wire. The sphincterotome includes a multi-lumen tubular member, with one lumen having an electrical conductor disposed therein, and the other lumen having a reinforcing wire disposed therein. The reinforcing wire is preferably rectangular in cross-section, providing a greater moment of inertia in a resisting axis than in a bending axis. Accordingly, the cutting edge of the cutting wire may be oriented to the 12 o'clock position of the papillary orifice to avoid injury to the duodenal wall or pancreatic duct in the patient, and to maintain the cutting edge in a predetermined cutting plane. Fluoroscopic indicating stripes may be provided at the distal end of the sphincterotome. A method of use and method of fabrication of the present invention is also disclosed.