Incontinence treatment with urethral guide

Abstract

Devices and methods for aligning a probe body and a treatment surface adjacent a target tissue. A guide shaft can be positioned in a urethra. The probe body can be positioned in a vagina and registered relative to the guide so as to position the treatment surface in alignment with the target tissue.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09 / 991,368, filed Nov. 20, 2001 (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,685,623), entitled “Incontinence Treatment with Urethral Guide,” the complete disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] The present invention relates generally to medical devices methods, systems, and kits. More specifically, the present invention provides devices and methods for positioning a treatment surface adjacent a target tissue to selectively heat and shrink tissues, particularly for the noninvasive treatment of urinary incontinence, hernias, cosmetic surgery, and the like. [0003] Urinary incontinence arises in both women and men with varying degrees of severity, and from different causes. In men, the condition occurs almost exclusively as a result of prostatectomies which result in mechanical damage to the sphincter. In women, the condition typically...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0008] The present invention provides devices, methods, systems, and kits for positioning a treatment surface adjacent a target tissue. In one embodiment, the present invention can be used for treating urinary incontinence. A urethral measurement assembly facilitates registration of a treatment delivery surface with a fractional location along the urethral axis, such as the mid-point of the urethra. Ideally, the physician will have some freedom to move a treatment probe manually as desired to achieve the best thermal contact, electrical contact, ergonomic fit to the patient, or the like, while maintaining registration with sufficient tolerances or within an acceptable registration region. The registration region may be established so as to avoid inadvertent damage to nerves or other tissues which may result from treatments outside, and particularly beyond the desired axial range of, the registration region.

Problems solved by technology

In men, the condition occurs almost exclusively as a result of prostatectomies which result in mechanical damage to the sphincter.

In each of these cases, urinary leakage typically occurs when a patient's intra-abdominal pressure increases as a result of stress, e.g. coughing, sneezing, laughing, exercise, or the like.

In cases where such noninterventional approaches are inadequate or unacceptable, the patient may undergo surgery to correct the problem.

One problem associated with delivering RF energy to the targeted tissue is the alignment of the electrodes with the target tissue.

Direct heating of target tissue is often complicated since the target tissue is offset laterally and separated from the urethra by triangular shaped fascia sheets supporting the urethra.

In fact, injury to these nerve bundles may even promote incontinence, instead of providing relief from incontinence.

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