Devices and methods for intra-vaginal bowel control.

A tissue anchor system includes a support material, a suture engaged with the support material, an anchor, and an introducer. The anchor has a body, a fin extending from the body in a first direction with an eyelet formed in the fin, a pair of radial barrels extending from the body in a radial direction perpendicular to the first direction, and a gripping tab removably attached to the fin. The suture is engaged with the eyelet of the fin. The introducer has a cannula with a bore sized to receive the body of the anchor and a slot formed in a wall of the cannula. The slot is sized to receive the fin of the anchor, and an ejection mechanism provided to eject the anchor out of the cannula.

A tissue anchor includes a body having a leading end portion extending from a trailing end portion, a protrusion formed on the leading end portion of the body extending outward in a radial direction, a fin integrated with the leading end portion of the body, a gripping tab removably attached to the fin, and a suture inserted through an eyelet of the fin.

A system for supplying energy to an implantable medical device when implanted in a patient's body can comprise an internal charger arranged to be implanted in the patient's body, the internal charger comprising a first coil. The system can further comprise an external charger arranged to wirelessly transmit energy to supply power to the internal charger, using a second coil. The system also comprises a wireless feedback system arranged to transmit feedback information from the internal charger to the external charger. The feedback information is based on information from at least one Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) transmitter. Hereby a user of the system can optimize the position of the external power supply in relation to the internal power supply based on the received feedback information. This in turn will result in a better and more robust energy transfer to the implanted medical device.

An incontinence treatment device and method of treating urinary incontinence in a person includes fabricating an artificial urethra to have a flow diameter formed inside of a circumferential wall and a closure device attached directly to a portion of an outer surface of the circumferential wall of the artificial urethra. The artificial urethra is sized to be spliced to a natural urethra for alignment of the flow diameter of the artificial urethra with a lumen of the natural urethra. A pump is provided for moving liquid out of a reservoir and into the closure device to push the outer surface of the circumferential wall into the flow diameter of the artificial urethra, which operates to close the flow diameter of the artificial urethra.

An urinary pumping device for generating a fluid flow through a urethra of a patient includes an activation arrangement configured to induce intermittent compression and release of the urethra, and a mounting structure to mount and unmount the activation arrangement to a body of the patient. The mounting structure is configured to position the activation arrangement on the body of the patient such that the urethra of the patient can be intermittently compressed and released by the activation arrangement.

Where an implanted reservoir for intestinal contents is formed from surgically modified intestine that has been cut along a mutual contact line of laterally adjacent sections of a bent portion of intestine and connected so that the resulting upper and lower halves of the intestine form an intestinal wall of the reservoir, the system for emptying such intestinal reservoir comprises an artificial flow control device implantable in the patient's body and adapted to control flow of the intestinal contents from said reservoir, the flow control device comprising at least one pump adapted to act on said intestinal wall so as to reduce the reservoir's volume, thereby emptying the reservoir. The system may further comprise an entry valve upstream of the reservoir and an exit valve downstream from the reservoir. The pump may be an electrical stimulation type pump, a hydraulically acting type pump or/and a mechanically acting type pump.

A clamp formed from a shape memory metal promotes and manages urethral continence. A method for insertion of the clamp is also included, herein. The clamp can be surrounded by a sleeve. A power source is used to actuate the clamp. The clamp is positioned around the urethra, and in its resting state the clamp is closed to prevent the flow of urine. When the user wants to release the flow of urine, power is applied to the clamp to heat the shape memory material. Heating the shape memory material, allows the clamp to open and release the flow of urine. When the user wants to stop the flow of urine, the power source is turned off and the clamp returns to its closed position.