Claims
- 1. A medical instrument, comprising:
a flexible shaft defining a lumen and housing an actuating member, and a distal actuating assembly including
a sealing portion configured to substantially seal the shaft lumen from contact with bodily fluids, and a tissue manipulator located distal of the sealing portion, the actuating member being coupled to the tissue manipulator such that the tissue manipulator is actuatable to deploy an implant located distal of the sealing portion.
- 2. The medical instrument of claim 1 wherein the distal actuating assembly further comprises the implant located distal of the sealing portion.
- 3. The medical instrument of claim 1 wherein the sealing portion comprises a cover over a section of the assembly.
- 4. The medical instrument of claim 1 wherein the sealing portion comprises a seal surrounding an actuating member extending through the seal.
- 5. An apparatus comprising:
two tissue piercing elements, and an implant including rigid portions connected by a flexible portion, the rigid and flexible portions being made from different materials, wherein the tissue piercing elements are configured to deploy the rigid portions of the implant through body tissue.
- 6. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein the flexible portion comprises suture.
- 7. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein the rigid portions each define a hole for receiving the flexible portion.
- 8. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein at least one of the tissue piercing elements is a needle.
- 9. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein the tissue piercing elements are parallel with each other.
- 10. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein at least one of the rigid portions includes a bar defining two holes.
- 11. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein the tissue piercing elements are configured to receive the rigid portions of the implant.
- 12. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein the tissue piercing elements include channels for deploying the rigid portions of the implant.
- 13. An apparatus comprising:
two tissue piercing elements, and an implant including rigid portions connected by suture thread, wherein the tissue piercing elements are configured to deploy the rigid portions of the implant through body tissue.
- 14. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the rigid portions each define a hole for receiving the suture thread.
- 15. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the tissue piercing elements define channels for receiving the rigid portions.
- 16. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the rigid portions form a distal portion of the tissue piercing elements.
- 17. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein at least one of the tissue piercing elements is a needle.
- 18. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the tissue piercing elements are parallel with each other.
- 19. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein at least one of the rigid portions includes a bar defining two holes.
- 20. A medical instrument, comprising:
a flexible shaft, an implant including a suture, and first and second members coupled to a distal end of the shaft and configured to releasably receive the implant for remote deployment of the implant at the treatment site with the implant maintaining a pre-deployment shape after securement at the treatment site.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/859,579, filed May 18, 2001, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/574,424, filed May 19, 2000, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/520,273, filed Mar. 7, 2000, and U.S. application Ser. No. 09/5.19,945, filed Mar. 7, 2000, which claim priority from U.S. application Ser. No. 60/140,492, filed Jun. 22, 1999, all hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.
Provisional Applications (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
|
60140492 |
Jun 1999 |
US |
Continuations (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09859579 |
May 2001 |
US |
Child |
10819957 |
Apr 2004 |
US |
Continuation in Parts (3)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09574424 |
May 2000 |
US |
Child |
09859579 |
May 2001 |
US |
Parent |
09520273 |
Mar 2000 |
US |
Child |
09574424 |
May 2000 |
US |
Parent |
09519945 |
Mar 2000 |
US |
Child |
09574424 |
May 2000 |
US |