US 12,213,916 B2
Nasolacrimal duct stent assembly and method
Savan Pravin Patel, Plano, TX (US); Jeffrey John Albertsen, McKinney, TX (US); Vasu Nishtala, Frisco, TX (US); and Stewart Lee Love, Herndon, VA (US)
Assigned to Quest Medical, Inc., Allen, TX (US)
Filed by Quest Medical, Inc., Allen, TX (US)
Filed on Jan. 14, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/149,639.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/962,754, filed on Jan. 17, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2021/0220175 A1, Jul. 22, 2021
Int. Cl. A61F 2/88 (2006.01); A61F 9/007 (2006.01); A61B 17/12 (2006.01); A61F 2/95 (2013.01); A61M 29/00 (2006.01)
CPC A61F 9/00772 (2013.01) [A61F 2/88 (2013.01); A61B 17/12099 (2013.01); A61F 2002/9505 (2013.01); A61F 2230/0013 (2013.01); A61F 2230/0091 (2013.01); A61F 2250/0039 (2013.01); A61M 29/00 (2013.01)] 8 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A nasolacrimal duct stent, comprising:
a hollow shaft;
a first anchor located at a proximal end of the hollow shaft, wherein the first anchor comprises a punctal plug and a flange located forward of said punctal plug, wherein said punctal plug is sized to be lodged in a human punctum while said flange is sized to be lodged in a human ampulla internal to the punctum, the first anchor providing a fluid passage into the hollow shaft;
a second anchor formed at a distal end of the hollow shaft, the second anchor terminating in a tip providing a fluid passage into the hollow shaft; and
a guidewire removably positioned within the fluid passage of the first anchor, the hollow shaft, and within the fluid passage of the second anchor;
wherein the second anchor having resiliency to hold a non-straight deployed state and having flexibility sufficient to be placed in a straight collapsed shape held via said guidewire positioned within the second anchor, said resiliency alone returning the second anchor to its deployed shape when said guide-wire is not positioned therein.