Systems and methods for a surgical tissue manipulator

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018092702-A1
Application number	US-201715831941-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 5, 2017
Priority date	Nov 26, 2013
Publication date	Apr 5, 2018
Grant date	—

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

3 . The method of claim 18 , 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 17 , further comprising fully retracting the two pluralities of fibers into a tube prior to inserting the retinal manipulator into the eye through the incision.

Assignees

• Novartis Ag

Inventors

• Schaller Philipp

Classifications

• A61F9/00727

  Apparatus for retinal reattachment · CPC title

• A61B34/70 Primary

  Manipulators specially adapted for use in surgery · CPC title