Incisionless gastric bypass system
A system for endoscopically forming an anastomosis between two naturally adjacent points in the digestive tract. The system utilizes elongate magnetic devices that, when connected across a tissue boundary, necrose tissue until an anastomosis forms and the devices are passed naturally. Despite the elongate shape of the devices, the resulting anastomosis is substantially round. As such, round anastomoses can be formed having increased diameters merely by increasing the lengths of the devices, obviating the need for wider endoscopes.
1 . A system for forming a substantially round anastomosis between two adjacent walls of a digestive tract, the system comprising:
a first elongated component comprising a first plurality of magnet elements provided in series, the first magnetic implant being flexible and sized for insertion into a working channel of an endoscope; and
a second elongated component comprising a second plurality of magnet elements provided in series, the second elongated component being magnetically attracted to the first elongated component;
wherein the magnet elements of at least one of the first and second plurality of magnet elements have a width ranging from about 1.5 mm to about 3.7 mm;
wherein the first and second elongated components are configured to be deployed into the digestive tract in a delivery configuration;
wherein the first and second elongated components are further configured to magnetically couple to each other through the two adjacent walls of the digestive tract in a magnetic compression configuration to exert a compression force onto a portion of the two adjacent walls located between the first and second elongated components, the compression force being sufficient to cause ischemic pressure necrosis to subsequently form the substantially round anastomosis; and
wherein the first and second elongated components are further configured to remain magnetically coupled to each other in an excretion configuration to be excreted from the digestive tract.
2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the working channel of the endoscope has a width ranging from about 1.5 mm to about 7 mm.
3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the magnet elements of at least one of the first and second plurality of magnet elements are configured to be provided in an elongated configuration within the working channel of the endoscope during delivery or pre-assembled at a distal end of the endoscope.
4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the magnet elements of the first elongated component or the second elongated component are received in a housing.
5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the first and second elongated components are configured to self-align.
6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein each of the first and second elongated components has length that is at most 15 times greater than the width thereof.
7 . The system of claim 1 , wherein each of the first and second elongated components has length that is at least 4 times greater than the width thereof.
8 . The system of claim 1 , wherein each of the first and second elongated components comprises a flat continuous contact surface extending over an entire surface defined within an outer periphery thereof.
9 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the delivery configuration and the magnetic compression configuration are the same.