Nerve elevator and method of use
View Patent ↗A nerve elevator tool is disclosed for the recovery of nerve tissue from living or cadaveric donors with minimal or no damage to internal tissues or the external integrity of the body. The elevator tool includes a dissecting head affixed to a shaft with a handle. Advancing the dissecting head through the body with the attached shaft and handle causes the elevator to “strip” tissues and structures from around the nerve and transect or rupture nerve branches with minimal avulsion, which then pass over and around the dissecting head. Once a sufficient section of nerve has been stripped, the second end of the nerve can be transected to completely free the nerve section, which can then be removed.
1. A nerve extraction tool comprising:
a dissecting head having
an elevator comprising a slit within the elevator; said elevator with a distal end and a proximal end, where the diameter of the distal end is less than the diameter of the proximal end; a lumen extending through the elevator and open to the distal end and the proximal end of the elevator; and a shaft fixedly attached at or near the proximal end of the elevator, extending from the elevator in a direction generally parallel to the lumen; and further comprising two gussets fixedly attached between the extension and the elevator.
2. The nerve extraction tool, according to claim 1 , further comprising a handle attached to the proximal end of the shaft.
3. The nerve extraction tool, according to claim 2 , wherein the handle is removably attached to the shaft.
4. The nerve extraction tool, according to claim 1 , further comprising an extension between the elevator and the shaft.
5. The nerve extraction tool, according to claim 1 , further comprising at least one gusset fixedly attached between the extension and the elevator.
6. The nerve extraction tool, according to claim 1 , wherein the circumferential shape of the lumen is circular, ovoid, triangular, square, or rectangular.
7. The nerve extraction tool, according to claim 1 , wherein the lumen has a diameter of between approximately 5 mm and approximately 8 mm.
8. The nerve extraction tool, according to claim 1 , wherein the lumen has a diameter of approximately 7 mm.
9. The nerve extraction tool, according to claim 1 , wherein a portion of the distal end of the elevator is tapered to form a beveled end.
10. The nerve extraction tool, according to claim 9 , wherein the elevator has a tapered diameter at the distal end of between approximately 6 mm and approximately 8 mm and a diameter at the proximal end of between approximately 8 mm and approximately 10 mm.
11. The nerve extraction tool, according to claim 10 , wherein the beveled edge at the distal end of the elevator forms a cutting edge with the lumen.
12. The nerve extraction tool, according to claim 1 , wherein the length of the shaft is between approximately 15 cm and approximately 35 cm.
13. The nerve extraction tool, according to claim 1 , wherein the length of the shaft is approximately 30 cm.
14. The nerve extraction tool, according to claim 1 , further comprising one or more indicators on the shaft.