US 12,262,884 B2
Multipurpose medical device
Ram Kumar Menon, Kerala (IN); Brian P Kelly, Tempe, AZ (US); and Anna Sawa, Chandler, AZ (US)
Assigned to DIGNITY HEALTH, San Francisco, CA (US)
Appl. No. 16/754,069
Filed by Dignity Health, San Francisco, CA (US)
PCT Filed Oct. 5, 2018, PCT No. PCT/US2018/054716
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Apr. 6, 2020,
PCT Pub. No. WO2019/071203, PCT Pub. Date Apr. 11, 2019.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/568,363, filed on Oct. 5, 2017.
Prior Publication US 2020/0323524 A1, Oct. 15, 2020
Int. Cl. A61B 17/02 (2006.01); A61B 17/00 (2006.01); A61B 90/00 (2016.01)
CPC A61B 17/0218 (2013.01) [A61B 17/025 (2013.01); A61B 2017/00022 (2013.01); A61B 2017/00039 (2013.01); A61B 2017/00128 (2013.01); A61B 2017/00557 (2013.01); A61B 2090/064 (2016.02); A61B 2090/065 (2016.02); A61B 2217/005 (2013.01); A61B 2217/007 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A multipurpose medical device configured to be used by a user during a medical procedure, the device comprising:
a handle;
a substantially cylindrical unitary body operatively coupled to the handle and including a lumen extending through a length of the body, at least a portion of the body being configured to operate as a retractor during the medical procedure;
a suction system including a suction channel disposed within the lumen;
a sensing system including a plurality of in-line sensors coupled to the body and configured to sense a retraction force against the body during the medical procedure independently from a location of application of the force; and
an indicator configured to provide feedback to the user based on the sensed retraction force,
wherein the sensing system includes a plurality of pairs of gauges arranged around a circumference of the body, each of the plurality of pairs including first and second in-line gauges arranged in an axial direction of the body, the first and second in-line gauges being coupled to the body at a first location and at a second location, respectively, such as to be separated from one another by a known distance, and
wherein the sensing system is configured to determine distances between the location of application of said force and the first and second locations.