Devices and methods useful for sealing bodily openings

摘要

Among other things, there are disclosed apparatuses and methods for medically sealing an opening in a vessel or wall. For example, in medical applications, a delivery tube is provided for insertion through a sheath into a vessel (e.g. a blood vessel). A dome-shaped seal fixed to a filament, an absorbent and/or compressible buffer, and a locking member are provided in the delivery tube. The delivery tube is configured so that it can be inserted into the vessel through a sheath. Tension is maintained on the filament to hold the seal against the tube or sheath. The sheath is pulled out, which pulls out the tube at the same time, leaving the seal over the opening in the vessel wall. The locking member compresses the buffer against the outside of the vessel and with the filament holds the seal in place against the inside of a vessel.

主权项

1. A vascular closure system, comprising:
a seal having a relaxed configuration with a domed shape, said seal while in said domed shape having a convex exterior surface, an opposite open concave interior surface, and a rim adjacent said convex and concave surfaces, said seal adapted to contact the interior of a vessel at said rim; a flexible filament fixed to said seal, said filament having a plurality of protuberances fixed thereto; a compressible buffer connected to said filament on and being slidable with respect to said filament and said protuberances; a locking member having a central opening, said locking member adapted to slide along said filament and allow said protuberances through said central opening whereafter said protuberances resist travel back through said opening, said locking member slidable along said filament so as to compress said compressible buffer against an external surface of the vessel and separate the locking member from the external surface of the vessel when the system is in a locked condition.