Aneurism Clamp

Abstract

A surgical clamp for application to the neck of an aneurism to clamp the walls thereof to shut off blood flow or seepage from an artery on which such aneurism has formed, the clamp having oppositely, longitudinally concavely bowed, and resiliently biased clamping arms that are also transversely, oppositely convexly bowed, and the opposed faces of said arms being provided with a multiplicity of depressions that are defined by intersecting portions of said opposed faces.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Intracranial operative procedures for clamping aneurisms, and other like procedures, require the implantation of the clamps in operative fields that are difficult of access and of such extreme delicacy that fatal damage to the walls of the arteries having such abnormal blood-filled dilations may result. An object of the present invention is to provide a clamp that renders the surgical aspects of aneurismal treatment, as hereinbefore characterized, not only more facile to perform but also greatly improves the post operative welfare and long-term condition of the patient.

This invention also has for its objects to provide such means that are positive in operation, convenient in use, easily installed in a working position and easily disconnected therefrom, economical of manufacture, relatively simple, and of general superiority and serviceability.

The invention also comprises novel details of construction and novel combinations and arrangements of parts, which will more fully appear in the course of the following description, which is based on the accompanying drawings. However, said drawings merely show, and the following description merely describes, one embodiment of the present invention, which is given by way of illustration or example only.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present aneurism clamp comprises, generally, a pair of clamping members 10 connected by a pivot pin 11 and biased by a coil spring 12 to clamping position. Said members 10, on one side of the pin 11, are each provided with an operating arm having a hook end 13 affording nonslip, positive engagement with and control by an applicator instrument for the clamp, and on the opposite side, with a clamping arm 14 formed to provide firm but resilient engagement with an aneurism, nontearing engagement at the origin of the neck of an aneurism, and nonabrading clamping engagement with the wall of an aneurism, all for the purpose of providing for a long-lasting and medically and surgically effective means for rendering such abnormal arterial growths ineffectual while the clamp remains implanted.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings, like reference characters designate similar parts in the several views.

FIG. 1 is a side view of one form of aneurism clamp according to the invention and shown in normally closed position.

FIG. 2 is a plan view thereof.

FIG. 3 is a view, similar to FIG. 1, showing the clamp fully open.

FIG. 4 is an end view as seen from the left of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged cross-sectional view as taken on the line 5-5 of FIG. 1, showing the clamp engaged with an aneurism.

FIGS. 6 and 7 are plan views of modifications.

FIG. 8 is a side view of another modification and shown in the form of an artery clip.

FIG. 9 is a plan view thereof.

FIG. 10 is a view similar to FIG. 8, showing the clip fully opened for application to an artery.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The clamping members 10 are provided with ears 15 through aligned holes of which the pivot pin extends, the ears of one member being outside the ears of the other, whereby the members 10 are aligned. The ends of the pin are staked or flattened over the outer faces of the outer ears. Said ears 15 are bent from flat arm portions 16 of the arms 10 which span across a space 17 in which the coils 18 of spring 12 reside.

Each hook end 13 is formed as a concavity of generally V-shaped form and extends from the mentioned flat portions 16. Said hooks are in opposed relation, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, their apices contacting each other when the hooked ends 13 or proximal end of the clamp are pressed toward each other to cause the arm ends to spread apart. Each said end is formed with a notch 19 to receive an end 20 of the spring, said notches and spring ends being offset, as best seen in FIG. 4. The spring ends 20 are normally biased apart to move the arms 14 to closed position, as in FIG. 1.

The applier 21 shown in FIG. 4 in dot-dash lines indicates the manner of use of the hook ends 13, the portions 22 of the applier being engaged in the concavities of said ends, and the inturned portions 23 preventing accidental slippage of the applier from the clamp, which can be separated only by spreading apart the portions of the applier by squeezing the arms 24 together.

The arms 14 on members 10 are preferably oppositely longitudinally bowed at their intermediate portions 25, the same defining an open area 26 between them when the outer or distal ends 27 thereof are in contact, as in FIG. 1, under normal bias of the spring ends 20 on the hook ends 13 of members 10.

In addition to said arms being bowed, the same are transversely curved, as at 28, so only the middle longitudinal portions of the distal ends 27 are in contact with each other, as in FIG. 1, and the middle longitudinal portions of the bowed portions are closer together than are the longitudinal edges 29 of said bowed portions, as in FIGS. 1 and 5.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 5, the inner faces of the arms 14, at least on their bowed portions 25 and contacting ends 27, are provided with convex surfaces 30 that are devised to have firm yet nonabrading and nonclamping engagement with the outer wall of an aneurism. Said surfaces are provided with multiplicity of depressions 31 that are defined by intersecting portions of said surfaces. It will be noted also that the depressions 31 are in regularly spaced longitudinal and transverse arrangement, but at an angle to the longitudinal extent of the surfaces 30, as in FIG. 2. One or both arms may have the described arrangement of the depressions 31, but not in matched arrangement--rather, in oppositely angled arrangement. Thus, the outer wall of an aneurism, clamped by the surfaces 30 of arms 14, will have a nonabrading or cutting engagement with said walls, since opposite portions of said walls are differently clamped by opposite portions of the surfaces 30.

Particular attention is directed to FIG. 5, which shows the above-described relationship of the wall-clamping means of the arms 14. Said view also shows how the transverse convexities 28 of the arms cause the same to conform to the neck 32 of the aneurism, preventing the same from being pinched and causing fatal rupture of the wall of said neck. It will be seen from FIG. 5 how the artery 33 is cleanly and smoothly formed and retained in its normal blood-passing form, and how the aneurism 34 is isolated from the artery by the above-described implanted clamp.

The approximate included angle of 60.degree. of the arm portion and the approximate ratio of one to four between the arm portions 16 and the arms 14, enable the latter to open, as in FIG. 3, to provide an aneurism-accommodating size as great as 9 mm. for clamps having arms 14 having a length of 8 mm. In providing a range of clamp sizes for different conditions, the same size for the operative end may be retained while varying the clamping arm end size in a range between about 5 mm. and 12 mm. The larger the arm end, the greater will be the opening characteristic of the arms.

Since aneurisms may occur in unpredictable places, a straight-armed clamp may not be suited because of space requirements. Therefore, without otherwise altering the above-described clamp, the same, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, may have arms 14a that are offset, or arms 14b that are curved out of the described straight line form. These offset and curved arms may be varied between flatter and fuller changes of angle.

FIGS. 8 and 9 show the hook end features of the clamp applied to a clamp or clip for encircling an artery to keep it functioning efficiently as a blood-conducting vessel. This has oppositely curved, semicircular arms 14c which, because of the wide opening angle of the hook ends 13, may be spread apart to enable facile application thereof to an artery. A liner 35, of Teflon fabric or the like noneroding material, is provided to keep the wall of the artery out of direct metallic engagement with said arms 14c.

While the foregoing has illustrated and described what is now contemplated to be the best mode of carrying out the invention, the constructions are, of course, subject to modification without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Therefore, it is not desired to restrict the invention to the particular forms of construction illustrated and described, but to cover all modifications that may fall within the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. An aneurism clamp comprising:

a. a pair of clamping arms having proximal and distal ends and having opposed clamping faces, said arms being pivoted intermediate said ends and adapted for clamping engagement with the outer surfaces of the walls of an arterial vessel;

b. spring means resiliently biasing said arms into clamping position;

c. the distal ends and intermediate portions of said arms being curved transversely to provide a convex inner surface throughout the length thereof and said arms being bowed outwardly and oppositely intermediate their ends providing a space therebetween, the distal ends of each of the arms being in contact when the clamp is closed, the intermediate spaced portions providing aneurism-engaging portions;

d. an operating arm on the proximal end of each clamping member, a portion of the spring means engaging each operating arm; and

e. a hook on the end of each operating member, said hooks being oppositely formed to provide means for reception of an applier instrument to spread the clamping arms to receive the neck of an aneurism.

2. A surgical clamp as defined in claim 1, wherein each clamping face is provided with a plurality of cavities into which portions of the vessel wall are forced.

3. A surgical clamp as defined in claim 1, wherein the spring means is a coil spring coaxial with the pivot axis of said arms and having opposite ends bearing against said operating members.