Method for treating obstructive sleep disorder includes removing tissue from the base of tongue Number:7,090,672 from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) owispatent A method for treating obstructive sleep disorders includes accessing the interior of the tongue through an incision made in the skin in the vicinity of the jaw of a patient; advancing an instrument through the incision into the interior of the tongue; and removing an amount of tissue from the interior of the base of the tongue with the instrument. The present invention includes forming a cavity or plurality of channels in the tongue. The cavity may be collapsed using a suture, fastener or bioadhesive. An emplaced suture may be provided to hold the cavity in a collapsed position thereby reducing the degree of obstruction. Additionally, thermal energy may be applied to the tissue surface immediately surrounding the channels to cause thermal damage to the tissue surface, thereby creating hemostasis and stiffening the surrounding tissue structure.<H obstructive, removing, Method, for, trea, 7090672.html, Patent, pto, 7090672

Title: Method for treating obstructive sleep disorder includes removing tissue from the base of tongue

Abstract: A method for treating obstructive sleep disorders includes accessing the interior of the tongue through an incision made in the skin in the vicinity of the jaw of a patient; advancing an instrument through the incision into the interior of the tongue; and removing an amount of tissue from the interior of the base of the tongue with the instrument. The present invention includes forming a cavity or plurality of channels in the tongue. The cavity may be collapsed using a suture, fastener or bioadhesive. An emplaced suture may be provided to hold the cavity in a collapsed position thereby reducing the degree of obstruction. Additionally, thermal energy may be applied to the tissue surface immediately surrounding the channels to cause thermal damage to the tissue surface, thereby creating hemostasis and stiffening the surrounding tissue structure.

Patent Number: 7,090,672 Issued on 08/15/2006 to Underwood, et al.

Inventors: Underwood; Ronald A. (Belmont, CA), Ellsberry; Maria B. (Fremont, CA)
Assignee: Arthrocare Corporation (Sunnyvale, CA)

Appl. No.: 10/613,609

Filed: July 2, 2003

Related U.S. Patent Documents


Application Number	Filing Date	Patent Number	Issue Date
09562496	May., 2000
09295687	Apr., 1999	6203542
09268616	Mar., 1999	6159208
09136079	Aug., 1998	6086585
09083526	May., 1998	6053172
08990374	Dec., 1997	6109268
08485219	Jun., 1995	5697281

Current U.S. Class: 606/41 ; 128/898; 607/101

Current International Class: A61B 18/18 (20060101); A61B 19/00 (20060101)

Field of Search: 606/41,45-50 128/898 607/101-102

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Primary Examiner: Peffley; Michael
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Batt; Richard R.

Parent Case Text

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in-part of pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/562,496, filed on May 1, 2000, which is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/295,687, filed on Apr. 21, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,203,542, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/268,616, filed on Mar. 15, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,159,208, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/136,079, filed on Aug. 18, 1998, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,086,585, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/083,526, filed May 22, 1998, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,053,172, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/990,374, filed Dec. 15, 1997, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,109,268 which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/485,219 filed Jun. 7, 1995, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,697,281, the complete disclosures of which are each incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.

Claims

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for treating obstructive sleep disorders, the method comprising: accessing the interior of the tongue through an incision made in the skin in the vicinity of the jaw of a patient; advancing an instrument through the incision into the interior of the tongue; and removing an amount of tissue from the interior of the base of the tongue with the instrument.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the incision is made under the jaw between the mandible and the hyoid bone.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the accessing the interior of the tongue comprises creating a channel in the tissue between the incision and the interior of the tongue.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the channel passes through the mylohyoid and the geniohyoid muscles into the genioglossus muscle.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the instrument is an electrosurgical instrument.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the electrosurgical instrument has a curved distal end.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the removing of tissue comprises: applying a high frequency voltage difference between one or more active electrodes and one or more return electrodes; and providing an electrically conductive medium over at least a portion of the one or more active electrodes and the tissue to be removed.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising coagulating tissue in a region adjacent to the location where tissue is removed.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the removing of tissue is performed without breaching the mucosal surface of the tongue.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the applying thermal energy is performed subsequently to the applying a high frequency voltage.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the removing of tissue comprises forming a cavity within the interior of the base of the tongue.

12. The method of claim 7, further comprising collapsing the cavity.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising suturing the cavity.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising stapling the cavity.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising gluing the cavity.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the removing of tissue decreases the volume of the tongue by about 5% to about 15%.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the instrument removes tissue through a mechanical process.

18. The method of