MEDICAL DEVICE INCLUDING MANIPULABLE PORTION WITH CONNECTED ELONGATE MEMBERS

摘要

A medical system may include a shaft member and a structure physically coupled to the shaft member. A portion of the shaft member may be sized to be delivered through a bodily opening leading to a bodily cavity. The structure may include at least two flexible couplings, each flexible coupling extending transversely from an intermediate portion of a respective one of at least two elongate members of the structure. The flexible coupling extending transversely from the intermediate portion of a first one of the at least two elongate members forms at least a part of a first closed loop arranged to receive a portion of the flexible coupling of a second one of the at least two elongate members therethrough to limit a spacing between the intermediate portions of the first and the second ones of the at least two elongate members.

主权项

1. A medical system comprising:
a shaft member including a portion sized to be delivered through a bodily opening leading to a bodily cavity; and a structure physically coupled to the shaft member, the structure including a plurality of elongate members, each elongate member of the plurality of elongate members comprising a proximal end, a distal end, and a respective intermediate portion positioned between the proximal end and the distal end, the structure selectively moveable between a delivery configuration in which the structure is suitably sized to be delivered through the bodily opening to the bodily cavity, and an expanded configuration in which the structure has a size too large to be delivered through the bodily opening to the bodily cavity, the respective intermediate portions of at least two of the plurality of elongate members angularly spaced with respect to one another about an axis when the structure is in the expanded configuration, wherein the structure includes at least two flexible couplings, each flexible coupling extending transversely from the intermediate portion of a respective one of the at least two of the plurality of elongate members, each location on the intermediate portion from which the flexible coupling extends transversely being spaced from each of the proximal and distal ends of the respective one of the at least two of the plurality of elongate members, and wherein the flexible coupling extending transversely from the intermediate portion of at least a first one of the at least two of the plurality of elongate members forms at least a part of a first closed loop arranged to receive a portion of the flexible coupling of a second one of the at least two of the plurality of elongate members therethrough to limit a spacing between the intermediate portions of the first and the second ones of the at least two of the plurality of elongate members to not exceed a defined amount when the structure is in the expanded configuration.