Apparatus, systems, and methods for constraining and/or supporting tissue structures along an airway

摘要

Systems and methods implant structures in, on, or near the floor of the mouth. The structures can be sized and configured to resist buckling of tissue structures in, on, or near the floor of the mouth in a cranial direction. The systems and methods can also be sized and configured, singly or in combination, for stabilizing a hyoid bone, and/or stabilizing a tongue, and/or suspending a tongue, and/or providing neuro-muscular stimulation of tissue structures in, on, or near the floor of the mouth.

主权项

1. A stabilization system for resisting posterior movement of a tongue within a mouth into an airway, a floor of the mouth being defined anteriorly by a mandible; posteriorly by a hyoid; and including suprahyoid muscles attached to the mandible and/or hyoid, the tongue resting within the mouth on suprahyoid muscles outside of the floor of the mouth, the system comprising
a mount sized and configured to be implanted free of the mandible outside the tongue between suprahyoid muscles in or on the floor of the mouth and/or outside the tongue between an extrinsic muscle of the tongue and a suprahyoid muscle in or on the floor of the mouth, the mount having a posterior region that, when implanted, is sized and configured to be positioned near the hyoid; and one or more struts coupled to the posterior region of the mount, at least one of the one or more struts being sized and configured to extend in a superior direction from the mount into a posterior region of the tongue, the at least one strut comprising mechanical restraining means including a length of extension into the posterior region of the tongue and/or an angular orientation measured in a superior direction from the posterior region of the mount for applying a resisting force to resist posterior movement of the tongue into the airway.