Varicer Bougie

Abstract

A disposable varicer bougie comprising a flexible and tensile strength wire-like device having vein stripping means affixed to its rear end. The wire-like device has a front end which is helically shaped, preferably with a specified pitch, and preferably terminating in a tapered portion.

Description

The present invention relates to a disposable varicer bougie consisting of a flexible and tensile strength wire-like device having vein stripping means fixedly attached to one of the ends, the rear one, of the device.

The object of the present invention is to provide a disposable varicer bougie which easily may pass a varicer, that is a blood-varicose vein, whereby a varicer operation may be carried out with a minimal incision and whereby the risk for supervening infections will be reduced.

There are previously known varicer bougies which substantially consist of a steel wire the front end of which is provided with a cone-shaped end and the rear end of which is provided with a so-called olive, which is fixedly attached to the wire. With such a varicer bougie varicer operations are carried out, varicose veins being removed.

When operating on a varicer in a leg, the vein is laid bare below the rupture place and the bougie is introduced into the vein with the front end first. The bougie which generally has a length of about 1000 mm is introduced and the object is to pass the rupture place and extract the front end through the vein near the groin. When done the whole bougie is drawn in, the vein being caught on the olive, which has a considerably bigger diameter than the vein, and being torn out of the leg, whereby the rupture is removed. The disadvantage of the previously known varicer bougies is that they have difficulty in passing the rupture places, where the blood veins often have a very winding course. Therefore the vein has to be laid bare and be operated away piece by piece. If there are several ruptures in the same vein, it will cause many incisions to be made in the leg, so that the risk of infections is great. Wounds on the legs are as a rule very slow-healing, which makes it desirable that the number of incisions on the leg be reduced to a minimum so that the patient shall not suffer more than necessary.

The previously known bougies are manufactured for repeated use so that the bougie is to be cleaned, washed and sterilized between every operation. The use of a steel wire causes the blood to easily penetrate between the threads in the wire so that they cannot be completely cleaned and the risk of transferring and introducing bacteria in the tissue is greatly increased.

These obvious disadvantages will be entirely eliminated by the present invention, which is characterized in that the bougie is produced of a homogeneous, solid or tubular smooth plastic material and that the front end is helically shaped. An alternative construction would be a metal wire coated or imbedded in a suitable plastic material.

Suitably the helix in the front end has a maximum pitch of three-fourths of a turn per cm, preferably one-fourth of a turn per cm.

The present invention will be described in the following with reference to the enclosed drawing, which is a lateral view.

At 1 a wire-like device is indicated, formed of a plastic material which is flexible and resistent to tearing and has a diameter of 2.5 mm. Thus, the wire-like device is solid or tubular shaped.

As a suitable material "Makrolon" may be mentioned, which is a polycarbonate having a great resistance to tearing. The wire-like device 1 at one end, the rear one, is provided with a truncated olive shaped means 2 manufactured integrally with the wire-like device 1. The means 2 has a diameter and a length of up to 15 mm.

The wire-like device 1, which has a length of about 1000 mm, in the other end, the front end 3, is helically shaped and in its tip 4 is somewhat enlarged and conically tapered. The helix has a length of about 5 cm and a diameter of 7-8 mm. The pitch of the helix is one-fourth of a turn per cm, which means that the helix has a length of 1 1/4 turns.

The helical shape is obtained by heating up and winding the front end 3 of the wire-like device 1.

When a varicer operation is to be carried out, for example in a leg, the vein below the varicose rupture is laid bare and the bougie is introduced into the vein with the front end first. At the place of the rupture the bougie is rotated on its axis or screwed so that the front end 3 will bore and find its way through the winding passage and further through the vein. If more ruptures or other winding passages are encountered in the same vein, the movement is repeated. When one has reached the groin the front end is extracted from the vein and the bougie is taken from the leg by pulling the free front end. Since the vein is caught on the olive shaped means, the whole rupture and all the vein is torn out and removed by the operation with the minimum number of incisions having been made.

The bougie has a smooth surface, which means that it easily passes through the vein. It may be varied with regard to the helical shape so that the pitch may be less per cm. Moreover, the helix may be cylindrical or conically tapering forward. The different forms and the pitch degree depend on what type of varicose vein is to be treated.

The bougie is not limited to the preferred embodiment shown herein but may vary within the scope of the following claims.

Claims

I claim:

1. A disposable varicer bougie comprising a flexible and tensile strength wire-like device having a front-end, a rear-end and vein stripping means comprising an enlarged member (2) of a size larger than the vein fixedly attached to said rear-end, said front end (3) being formed in the shape of a single permanent spiral, helically shaped and terminating at an enlarged tip (4) in a single straight section extending forwardly from the spiral, whereby the front end (3) finds its way through a winding passage of a varicosed vein as the bougie is rotated about its axis during insertion.

2. A varicer bougie according to claim 1, in which the helix at the front end (3) has a maximum pitch of three-fourths of a turn per cm.

3. A varicer bougie according to claim 2, in which the pitch is one-fourth of a turn per cm.

4. A varicer bougie according to claim 5, in which the spiral tapers conically towards the tip.

5. A varicer bougie according to claim 1, in which the wire-like device has a smooth external surface formed of a homogeneous plastic material.