Methods and devices for treating and occluding a female patient's fallopian tubes to provide permanent or extended birth control or sterilization.

Methods and devices for treating and occluding a female patient's fallopian tubes to provide permanent or extended birth control or sterilization.

Conventional vasectomy techniques suffer from a number of disadvantages, including, for example, a substantial risk for the development of hematomas and swelling, a potential for spontaneous regeneration and undesired resumption of fertility, a need for a highly skilled surgical professional, as well as a long recovery period, accompanied by severe limitations on post-surgical activity. The present invention overcomes the disadvantages and deficiencies of the prior art by providing a rapid, reliable, less invasive male sterilization procedure as well as vasectomy instruments and kits for use therewith.

Methods and devices for treating and occluding a female patient's fallopian tubes to provide permanent or extended birth control or sterilization.

Methods and devices for treating and occluding a female patient's fallopian tubes to provide permanent or extended birth control or sterilization.

Conventional vasectomy techniques suffer from a number of disadvantages, including, for example, a substantial risk for the development of hematomas and swelling, a potential for spontaneous regeneration and undesired resumption of fertility, a need for a highly skilled surgical professional, as well as a long recovery period, accompanied by severe limitations on post-surgical activity. The present invention overcomes the disadvantages and deficiencies of the prior art by providing a rapid, reliable, less invasive male sterilization procedure as well as vasectomy instruments and kits for use therewith.

The invention relates to an anchoring device specifically for the retention of bioactive substances in the immediate post-Cesarean section uterus for contraception. The invention includes a dual anchoring device, preferably a permanent anchoring knot, provided with a noose, for insertion in the top of the uterus with an inserter, and which is kept in place during the involution phase of the uterus by a supplementary means of temporary fixation, to overcome the risk of IUD/IUS dislodgment from the soft uterine wall. The anchoring device includes a biodegradable suture, consolidated with the permanent anchoring knot, for its temporary fixation to the serosa of the uterus. The anchoring knot can be easily removed from the uterus at any time after its insertion in the uterine wall and fixation to the serosa due to the fast biodegrading time of the suture.

A system for preventing retrograde flow in the fallopian tubes including a closure device comprising an elongated body, a channel extending therethrough, and a valve coupled to a proximal end of the body and open to the channel, the valve configured to only allow fluid to flow proximally therethrough from the channel. The system also includes a grasping element to secure the closure device within the fallopian tube comprising a plurality of tines, the tines including sharpened ends configured to penetrate the wall of the fallopian tube.