Methods and devices are disclosed that provide therapeutic benefit and treatment for a variety of neurologic and physiologic conditions that include obesity, urinary incontinence, and sensory system disorders.

Various embodiments of a mesh or implant system are provided for treating pelvic conditions such as incontinence, vaginal prolapsed, and other conditions caused by muscle and ligament weakness. Embodiments of the implants can include a material, substrate, configuration or coating adapted to provide immediate or timed release of various therapeutic agents or drugs to treat the surrounding tissue.

A male incontinence control device with a main elastomeric tubular body, a knob to occlude the urethra, and a feature in the tubular body to accept a spacing device/insert. The length of the spacer will define the minimum internal circumference of the main tube to optimize comfort and performance. There may be multiple sizes of spacers or adjustable spacers, in addition to attachable or adjustable knob embodiments. Removal features are designed to minimize body contact for increased comfort and performance.

A urinary incontinence device includes a cylindric section having a first end with a necklace, the necklace structured to hold in place at a base of a penis; an oval section extending from a second end of the cylindric section; and an internal valve at the second end of the cylindric section. All components are integrated together in one single, small, and easy fit-and-go device; keeps all components in one small area of the pelvic zone and does not need to alter the normal clothing dress.

Methods are disclosed for forming tissue engineered, tubular bowel constructs from intestinal circular smooth muscle cells and enteric neural progenitor cells. The intestinal smooth muscle cells and neural progenitor cells can be seeded on a mold with a surface texture that induces longitudinal alignment of the intestinal smooth muscle cells and co-cultured until an innervated aligned smooth muscle sheet is obtained. The innervated smooth muscle sheet can then be wrapped around a tubular scaffold to form an intestinal tissue construct.

A rectal catheter is configured for improved pediatric care. The catheter includes a member that terminates into a rounded tip, a plug mounted about the member, the plug being made of a moldable material, a balloon mounted about the member between the rounded tip and the plug, a conduit that fluidly communicates with the balloon and that extends from the member to enable a pressure source to be operatively connected to the balloon to inflate the balloon, and a pressure relief valve operatively connected to the conduit, the pressure relief valve being configured to open the conduit to atmosphere pressure in response to a pressure in the conduit reaching a predetermined pressure. The predetermined pressure is selected to attenuate significantly risk of bowel perforation in pediatric patients.

Applicator and method for injecting a bulking agent at one or more selected submucosal positions in a periurethral tissue of a female patients' urethra. The applicator comprises a lance, such as a cystoscope with a distal end provided with one or more optical sensors, and a needle guide with a bore receiving the lance. The needle guide comprises needle channels at different angular positions, each needle channel extending between a needle entrance surface and an opposite shoulder surface. The needle channels are oriented to direct a needle via external peripheral tissue of the urethral meatus to a submucosal position at a urethra section, e.g., within the optical scope of the optical sensor.

A method of side-suturing a prosthetic to human tissue is disclosed. The method includes accessing a surgical site on a body portion of a patient; identifying the human tissue within the surgical site; endomechanically positioning the prosthetic adjacent the human tissue within the surgical site; aligning a surgical tool proximate the tissue with the prosthetic between the tool and the tissue, the surgical tool having an elongated member with distal and proximal ends; actuating the surgical tool in-situ to drive deployment members of the surgical tool outwardly away from the surgical tool, through the prosthetic and into the tissue; and retracting the deployment members back into the surgical tool, whereby the deployment members deploy a fastener to fixatedly suspend the prosthetic to the human tissue.

Described are various embodiments of surgical procedures, systems, implants, devices, tools, and methods, useful for treating pelvic conditions in a male or female, the pelvic conditions including incontinence (various forms such as fecal incontinence, stress urinary incontinence, urge incontinence, mixed incontinence, etc.), vaginal prolapse (including various forms such as enterocele, cystocele, rectocele, apical or vault prolapse, uterine descent, etc.), and other conditions caused by muscle and ligament weakness, the devices and tools including devices and tools for anchoring an implant to supportive tissue and adjusting the implant.

An implant including a vaginal portion having a length, width, first and second ends with a central region positioned therebetween, and a sacral portion having a length, width, first end and second end. The first end of the sacral portion is coupled to the central region of the vaginal portion so that the width of the first end extends substantially perpendicularly to the length of the vaginal portion. The implant is made of the same substantially flat, planar mesh having an anisotropic knitted or woven structure that has a greater stiffness in a first direction than a second direction. The mesh is aligned such that the first direction is aligned in a longitudinal direction of the sacral portion and the mesh of the vaginal portion is aligned such that the stiffness in a longitudinal direction of the vaginal portion is less than that of the sacral portion.