System for repeated delivery of implantable devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10518095-B2
Application number	US-201615262968-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 12, 2016
Priority date	Sep 12, 2016
Publication date	Dec 31, 2019
Grant date	Dec 31, 2019

Abstract

Disclosed herein is a medical tool adapted to engage and disengage with leadless pacemakers to allow for the repeated use of the tool in delivering and implanting multiple leadless pacemakers into a patient heart in a serial or repeated manner. The tool includes a handle, an attachment mechanism, a torque portion, and a rotation limiter. The handle includes a housing. The attachment mechanism is operably coupled to the housing and configured to actuate between a released state and an engaged state. The torque portion is operably coupled to the housing and rotatable relative to the housing to transition the attachment mechanism between the released and engaged states. The torque portion includes a shaft. The rotation limiter is in sliding engagement with the shaft between a first stop and a second stop. The rotation limiter includes a first helical thread. The tool also includes a second helical thread in threaded engagement with the first helical thread and operably coupled to the housing. Rotation of the torque portion rotates the rotation limiter such that the first helical thread is rotated against the second helical thread, thereby driving the rotation limiter along the shaft between the first stop and the second stop.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A tool for delivering a leadless pacemaker, the tool comprising:
a handle including a housing;
an attachment mechanism operably coupled to the housing and configured to actuate between a released state and an engaged state, the released state being when the attachment mechanism assumes a condition that allows the leadless pacemaker to be unattached to the tool, and the engaged state being when the attachment mechanism assumes a condition that allows the leadless pacemaker to be attached to the tool;
a torque portion operably coupled to the housing and rotatable relative to the housing to transition the attachment mechanism between the released and engaged states, the torque portion including a shaft;
a rotation limiter displaceable relative to the shaft between a first stop and a second stop, the rotation limiter including a first helical thread and an unthreaded portion at one end of the rotation limiter, the unthreaded portion selectively contacting each of the first stop and the second stop; and
a second helical thread in threaded engagement with the first helical thread and operably coupled to the housing,
wherein rotation of the torque portion rotates the rotation limiter such that the first helical thread is rotated against the second helical thread, thereby driving the rotation limiter along the shaft between the first stop and the second stop.

2. The tool of claim 1 , wherein the attachment mechanism reaches the released state when the rotation limiter reaches the first stop, and the attachment mechanism reaches the engaged state when the rotation limiter reaches the second stop.

3. The tool of claim 1 , further comprising a drive mechanism supported by the housing and operably coupling the torque portion to the attachment mechanism.

4. The tool of claim 1 , further comprising a ratchet mechanism that gives feedback when the torque portion is rotated.

5. The tool of claim 1 , further comprising a position indicator configured to indicate when the rotation limiter reaches at least one of the first stop or second stop.

6. The tool of claim 5 , wherein the position indicator includes a cam configuration that interacts with the rotation limiter to indicate when the rotation limiter has reached at least one of the first stop or second stop.

7. The tool of claim 5 , wherein the position indicator includes at least one of an axially sliding indicator, an electronic binary indicator, or a radially displacing indicator.

8. The tool of claim 1 , wherein the shaft includes a transverse cross-section including a non-circular outer surface along which the rotation limiter can slide in displacing relative to the shaft between the first stop and the second stop, but linking the shaft and the rotation limiter together to rotate together as a unit.

9. The tool of claim 8 , wherein the shaft extends through a hole in the rotation limiter, the hole including a shape that is a negative of the non-circular outer surface.

10. The tool of claim 8 , wherein the non-circular outer surface of the transverse cross-section is in the form of one of an ellipse, square, rectangle, trapezoid, diamond, triangle, pentagon, hexagon, or octagon.

11. The tool of claim 1 , wherein the shaft and the rotation limiter include a keyed interface that allows the rotation limiter to slide along the shaft in displacing relative to the shaft between the first stop and the second stop, but results in the shaft and rotation limiter rotating together as a unit.

12. The tool of claim 11 , wherein the keyed interface includes a non-circular outer transverse cross-section of the shaft and a complementary negative surface of the rotation limiter that interfaces with the non-circular outer transverse cross-section of the shaft.

13. The tool of claim 11 , wherein the keyed interface includes a male-female interface including a male feature on one of the shaft or rotation limiter and a female feature on the other of the shaft or rotation limiter, the male feature being received in the female feature.

14. The tool of claim 1 , wherein the attachment mechanism includes a tether snare that has a first diameter when the attachment mechanism is in the released state and a second diameter when the attachment mechanism is in the engaged state, the second diameter being smaller than the first diameter.

15. The tool of claim 1 , wherein the attachment mechanism includes a pair of tethers, each tether including a tether member, wherein the tether members are longitudinally offset from each other when the attachment mechanism is in the released state and the tether members are longitudinally even with each other and in a side-by-side arrangement when in the attachment mechanism is in the engaged state.

16. A medical tool configured to deliver a leadless pacemaker to an implantation site in a patient, the tool comprising:
a handle including a housing;
an elongated body distally extending from the handle;
an attachment mechanism near a distal end of the elongated body and configured to actuate between a first state and a second state, wherein, when the attachment mechanism is in the first state, the attachment mechanism is configured to secure the leadless pacemaker to the tool, and when the attachment mechanism is in the second state, the attachment mechanism is configured such that the leadless pacemaker will not secure to the tool;
a torque portion operably coupled to the housing and rotatable relative to the housing to transition the attachment mechanism between the first and second states, the torque portion including a shaft;
a rotation limiter including a first helical thread and an unthreaded portion, the rotation limiter interfacing with the shaft such that the rotation limiter can slide along the shaft between a first stop and a second stop, but the shaft and the rotation limiter rotate together as a unit, the unthreaded portion selectively contacting each of the first stop and the second stop; and
a second helical thread in threaded engagement with the first helical thread and fixed relative to the housing,
wherein rotation of the torque portion rotates the rotation limiter such that the first helical thread is rotated against the second helical thread, thereby driving the rotation limiter along the shaft between the first stop and the second stop.

17. The tool of claim 16 , wherein the attachment mechanism reaches the first state when the rotation limiter reaches the first stop, and the attachment mechanism reaches the second state when the rotation limiter reaches the second stop.

18. The tool of claim 16 , further comprising a position indicator configured to indicate when the rotation limiter reaches at least one of the first stop or second stop.

19. The tool of claim 16 , wherein the interfacing between the shaft and the rotation limiter includes a non-circular outer transverse cross-section of the shaft and a complementary negative surface of the rotation limiter that interfaces with the non-circular outer transverse cross-section of the shaft.

20. The tool of claim 16 , wherein the interfacing between the shaft and the rotation limiter includes a male-female arrangement including a male feature on one of the shaft or rotation limiter and a female feature on the other of the shaft or rotation limiter, the male feature being received in the female feature.

21. The tool of claim 16 , wherein the attachment mechanism includes a tether snare that has a first diameter when the attachment mechanism is in the first state and

Assignees

• Pacesetter Inc

Inventors

• Ho Friedrich
• Eby Thomas B
• Laby Keith Phillip

Classifications

• A61N2001/058

  Fixing tools · CPC title

• A61B2017/22035

  for retrieving or repositioning foreign objects · CPC title

• A61N1/37205

  Microstimulators, e.g. implantable through a cannula · CPC title

• A61N1/3756 Primary

  Casings with electrodes thereon, e.g. leadless stimulators · CPC title