Systems and methods for a surgical tissue manipulator

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10729504-B2
Application number	US-201715831941-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 5, 2017
Priority date	Nov 26, 2013
Publication date	Aug 4, 2020
Grant date	Aug 4, 2020

Abstract

An apparatus for manipulating tissue during a procedure performed within an eye of a patient is disclosed herein. The apparatus includes a hand-held controller and an elongate member configured to be inserted into the eye of the patient. The elongate member has a proximal end and a distal end, with the proximal end of the elongate member being coupled to the hand-held controller. The elongate member also has a lumen extending through the length of the elongate member. The apparatus further includes a plurality of flexible grasping fibers extending through at least a portion of the lumen and beyond the distal end thereof. The grasping fibers are adjustable by the hand-held controller to advance or retract relative to the elongate member by altering a distance between distal ends of the grasping fibers and the distal end of the elongate member.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of positioning retinal tissue that has detached from a back surface of an eye of a patient, the method comprising:
making an incision in the eye;
inserting a retinal manipulator into the eye through the incision, the retinal manipulator having two pluralities of grasping fibers at a distal end thereof;
grasping a portion of the retinal tissue that is detached from the back surface of the eye between the two pluralities of grasping fibers; and
maneuvering the retinal tissue by maneuvering the grasped portion with the retinal manipulator.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the retinal manipulator comprises a tube having the two pluralities of grasping fibers positioned therein, the two pluralities of grasping fibers being biased to extend in different directions.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising adjusting a stiffness of the plurality of grasping fibers by positioning the tube relative to the two pluralities of grasping fibers.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising fully retracting the two pluralities of grasping fibers into a tube prior to inserting the retinal manipulator into the eye through the incision.

Assignees

• Novartis Ag
• Alcon Inc

Inventors

• Schaller Philipp

Classifications

• A61B34/70 Primary

  Manipulators specially adapted for use in surgery · CPC title

• A61F9/00727

  Apparatus for retinal reattachment · CPC title