Intercostal muscle fixation for an implanted medical device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10981002-B2
Application number	US-201815927600-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 21, 2018
Priority date	Mar 22, 2017
Publication date	Apr 20, 2021
Grant date	Apr 20, 2021

Abstract

An implantable medical device that can include a main body having a tissue-contacting surface comprising a first edge and a second edge, an elongated shaft coupled at or near a first edge of the main body, and an anchoring feature extending from a second end of the elongated shaft. The elongated shaft can have a long axis that extends from a first end of the elongated shaft to a second end of the elongated shaft. The elongated shaft can be oriented such that the second end is positioned above the tissue-contacting surface and an angle between the long axis of the elongated shaft and the tissue-contacting surface is an acute angle. The device can further include an opposing elongated shaft coupled at or near a second edge of the main body.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An implantable medical device, comprising:
a main body having a tissue-contacting surface comprising a first edge, the tissue-contacting surface of the main body having a convex shape;
an elongated shaft having a long axis that extends from a proximal end of the elongated shaft to a distal end of the elongated shaft, wherein the elongated shaft includes a shaft-connection site that is at or near the proximal end and that is coupled to a surface-connection site of the main body, the surface-connection site of the main body being at or near the first edge of the main body, wherein the elongated shaft is oriented such that:
the elongated shaft is over the tissue-contacting surface; and
an angle between the long axis of the elongated shaft and the tissue-contacting surface is an acute angle; and

an anchoring feature adjacent the distal end of the elongated shaft, the anchoring feature being configured to taper from an enlarged portion to a sharp distal tip at the distal end of the elongated shaft, and a cross sectional area of the enlarged portion of the anchoring feature being larger than a median-cross sectional area of the elongated shaft,
wherein the enlarged portion comprises a top region and a bottom region, the top region comprises a flat portion that terminates at the sharp distal tip, and the bottom region comprises a bulbous portion protruding away from the flat portion.

2. The device of claim 1 , wherein the acute angle is between 10° and 50°.

3. The device of claim 1 , further comprising:
an opposing elongated shaft that is coupled to the main body at or near a second edge of the main body.

4. The device of claim 3 , wherein a distal end of the opposing elongated shaft is over the tissue-contacting surface.

5. The device of claim 3 , wherein a second angle between a second long axis of the opposing elongated shaft and the tissue-contacting surface is also an acute angle.

6. The device of claim 3 , wherein the opposing elongated shaft is shorter than the elongated shaft.

7. The device of claim 3 , wherein the elongated shaft and the opposing elongated shaft are oriented such that the long axis of the elongated shaft and a second long axis of the opposing elongated shaft are in a same plane.

8. The device of claim 3 , wherein the opposing elongated shaft also includes an anchoring feature that tapers from an enlarged portion to a sharp distal tip.

9. The device of claim 1 , further comprising:
a second elongated shaft that is coupled to the main body at or near the first edge of the main body.

10. The device of claim 9 , wherein a second long axis of the second elongated shaft is parallel to the long axis of the elongated shaft.

11. The device of claim 9 , wherein a widest distance between the elongated shaft and the second elongated shaft is less than 18 mm.

12. The device of claim 1 , wherein the main body further comprises control circuitry for generating an electrical stimulus.

13. The device of claim 12 , further comprising a lead coupled to the control circuitry of the main body and configured to transmit electrical signals at a distal portion of the lead.

14. The device of claim 1 , wherein the elongated shaft and the anchoring feature are contiguous.

15. A system comprising:
the implantable medical device of claim 1 ; and
a delivery sheath that surrounds a circumference of the implantable medical device.

16. A method of implanting a medical device, the method comprising:
inserting an implantable medical device into a delivery sheath in a compressed state such that the implantable medical device is at least partly wrapped, the implantable medical device comprising:
a main body having a tissue-contacting surface comprising a first edge and a second edge, the tissue-contacting surface of the main body having a convex shape;
an elongated shaft having a long axis that extends from a proximal end of the elongated shaft to a distal end of the elongated shaft, wherein the proximal end is adjacent to the main body and the distal end is further from the main body than the proximal end, wherein the elongated shaft includes a shaft-connection site that is at or near the proximal end and that is coupled to a surface-connection site of the main body, the surface-connection site of the main body being at or near the first edge of the main body; and
an anchoring feature adjacent the distal end of the elongated shaft, the anchoring feature being configured to taper from an enlarged portion to a sharp distal tip at the distal end of the elongated shaft, and a cross sectional area of the enlarged portion of the anchoring feature being larger than a median cross sectional area of the entire elongated shaft,
wherein the enlarged portion comprises a top region and a bottom region, the top region comprises a flat portion that terminates at the sharp distal tip, and the bottom region comprises a bulbous portion protruding away from the flat portion;

guiding the at least partly wrapped implantable medical device to an implant site;
deploying the implantable medical device from the delivery sheath, wherein deploying includes releasing the implantable medical device into a decompressed state, such that the elongated shaft is oriented such that:
the elongated shaft is over the tissue-contacting surface; and
an angle between the long axis of the elongated shaft and the tissue-contacting surface is an acute angle, wherein the elongated shaft extends from the first edge of the main body towards the second edge of the main body; and

inserting the elongated shaft into the implant site such that the anchoring feature attaches to a portion of the implant site.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein:
the implantable medical device further includes an opposing elongated shaft that is coupled to the main body at or near the second edge of the main body; and
when the implantable medical device is in the decompressed state, a distal end of the opposing elongated shaft is over the tissue-contacting surface at a second acute angle.

18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising inserting the opposing elongated shaft into the implant site.

19. The method of claim 17 , wherein the elongated shaft and the opposing elongated shaft are inserted into the implant site at different times.

20. The method of claim 17 , wherein the elongated shaft and the opposing elongated shaft are different lengths.

Assignees

• Verily Life Sciences Llc

Inventors

• Rys Ken

Classifications

• A61N1/37518 Primary

  Anchoring of the implants, e.g. fixation · CPC title

• A61N1/36

  for stimulation · CPC title

• A61B5/0059

  using light, e.g. diagnosis by transillumination, diascopy, fluorescence (photoacoustic A61B5/0093; optical measurement of heart rate A61B5/02416; optical measurement of blood flow A61B5/0261; optical measurement of analytes A61B5/1455) · CPC title

• A61B5/14532

  for measuring glucose, e.g. by tissue impedance measurement · CPC title

• A61N1/3756

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