System for repeated delivery of implantable devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11433248-B2
Application number	US-201916573904-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 17, 2019
Priority date	Sep 12, 2016
Publication date	Sep 6, 2022
Grant date	Sep 6, 2022

Abstract

Disclosed herein is a medical leadless pacemaker delivery system adapted to engage and disengage with leadless pacemakers to allow for the repeated use of the leadless pacemaker delivery system in delivering and implanting multiple leadless pacemakers into a patient heart in a serial or repeated manner. The leadless pacemaker delivery system 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 leadless pacemaker delivery system 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 leadless pacemaker delivery system, comprising:
a handle including a housing;
an attachment mechanism including a first tether coupled to the housing, and a second tether, wherein the first tether and the second tether have respective tether members, wherein the tether members have a parallel and longitudinally aligned position when the attachment mechanism is in an engaged state, and wherein the tether members have a parallel and longitudinally offset position when the attachment mechanism is in a released state;
a drive shaft operably coupled to the second tether to translate the second tether relative to the first tether within the housing; and
a torque portion including a release knob rotatably mounted on the housing, and a distal confine, wherein the drive shaft is received within the distal confine and distally-proximally slideable relative to the release knob, and wherein the drive shaft is rotationally fixed to the torque portion such that rotation of the release knob relative to the housing transmits rotation to the drive shaft to translate the second tether relative to the first tether from the longitudinally aligned position in the engaged state to the longitudinally offset position in the released state.

2. The leadless pacemaker delivery system of claim 1 further comprising a rotation limiter displaceable relative to the torque portion between a first stop and a second stop, wherein the attachment mechanism reaches the released state when the rotation limiter reaches the first stop, and wherein the attachment mechanism reaches the engaged state when the rotation limiter reaches the second stop.

3. The leadless pacemaker delivery system of claim 1 , further comprising a drive mechanism operably coupling the drive shaft to the second tether.

4. The leadless pacemaker delivery system of claim 1 , further comprising a ratchet mechanism and a disk enclosed in the housing, wherein the ratchet mechanism includes a plurality of pawl arms to give feedback when the pawl arms ratchet over a radial edge of the disk.

5. The leadless pacemaker delivery system of claim 1 , further comprising a position indicator configured to indicate when the attachment mechanism is in at least one of the engaged state or the released state.

6. The leadless pacemaker delivery system of claim 5 , further comprising a rotation limiter displaceable relative to the torque portion between a first stop and a second stop, 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 in which the attachment mechanism is in the released state or the second stop in which the attachment mechanism is in the engaged state.

7. The leadless pacemaker delivery system 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 leadless pacemaker delivery system of claim 1 , wherein the torque portion includes a torque shaft having a transverse cross-section including a non-circular outer surface along which a rotation limiter can slide in displacing relative to the torque shaft between a first stop and a second stop, and wherein the transverse cross-section links the torque shaft and the rotation limiter together to rotate together as a unit.

9. The leadless pacemaker delivery system of claim 8 , wherein the torque shaft extends through a hole in the rotation limiter, and wherein the hole includes a shape that is a negative of the non-circular outer surface.

10. The leadless pacemaker delivery system 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 leadless pacemaker delivery system of claim 1 further comprising a rotation limiter displaceable relative to the torque portion between a first stop and a second stop, wherein the torque portion includes a torque shaft, and wherein the torque shaft and the rotation limiter include a keyed interface that allows the rotation limiter to slide along the torque shaft in displacing relative to the torque shaft between the first stop and the second stop, and wherein the torque shaft and the rotation limiter rotate together as a unit.

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

13. The leadless pacemaker delivery system of claim 11 , wherein the keyed interface includes a male-female interface including a male feature on one of the torque shaft or the rotation limiter, and a female feature on the other of the torque shaft or the rotation limiter, and wherein the male feature is received in the female feature.

14. The leadless pacemaker delivery system of claim 1 , wherein the tether members are in a side-by-side arrangement when the attachment mechanism is in the engaged state.

15. A leadless pacemaker system, comprising:
a leadless pacemaker; and
a leadless pacemaker delivery system comprising
a handle including a housing,
an elongated body distally extending from the handle,
an attachment mechanism including a first tether extending longitudinally through the elongated body and coupled to the housing, and a second tether extending longitudinally through the elongated body, wherein the first tether and the second tether have respective tether members, wherein the tether members have a parallel and longitudinally aligned position when the attachment mechanism is in an engaged state to secure the leadless pacemaker to the elongated body, and wherein the tether members have a parallel and longitudinally offset position when the attachment mechanism is in a released state to release the leadless pacemaker from the elongated body,
a drive shaft operably coupled to the second tether to translate the second tether relative to the first tether within the housing, and

a torque portion including a release knob rotatably mounted on the housing, and a distal confine, wherein the drive shaft is received within the distal confine and distally-proximally slideable relative to the release knob, and wherein the drive shaft is rotationally fixed to the torque portion such that rotation of the release knob relative to the housing transmits rotation to the drive shaft to translate the second tether relative to the first tether from the longitudinally aligned position in the engaged state to the longitudinally offset position in the released state.

16. The leadless pacemaker delivery system of claim 15 further comprising a rotation limiter displaceable relative to the torque portion between a first stop and a second stop, wherein the attachment mechanism reaches the released state when the rotation limiter reaches the first stop, and wherein the attachment mechanism reaches the engaged state when the rotation limiter reaches the second stop.

17. The leadless pacemaker delivery system of claim 15 , further comprising a position indicator configured to indicate when the attachment mechanism is in at least one of the engaged state or the released state.

18. The leadless pacemaker delivery system of claim 15 further comprising a rotation limiter displaceable relative to the torque portion between a first s

Assignees

• Pacesetter Inc

Inventors

• Ho Friedrich
• Eby Thomas B
• Laby Keith Phillip

Classifications

• A61N2001/058

  Fixing tools · CPC title

• A61N1/3756 Primary

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

• A61B2017/22035

  for retrieving or repositioning foreign objects · CPC title

• A61N1/37205

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