Patent ID: 9272160
Filing Date: 2016-03-01
CPC Classification: A61B,A61N,Y10T

Claim Text:
1. A set of brachytherapy assemblies, comprising: between 10-60 brachytherapy assemblies, each assembly comprising: a needle, wherein the needle comprises a needle handle at a proximal portion thereof; a strand with radioactive material residing in a distal end portion of the needle, the strand further comprising a flexible tether that has a length sufficient to reside external of a patient when the strand is in position; a plunger residing in the needle configured to slidably hold the tether, wherein the plunger comprises a plunger handle at a proximal portion thereof, wherein the tether and the strand and/or radioactive material of the strand comprise corresponding visual indicia, and wherein the between 10-60 brachytherapy assemblies each comprise different corresponding visual indicia; and a deployment guard that releasably resides between the needle handle and the plunger handle prior to active deployment, wherein a portion of the tether extends externally away from the assembly between the needle handle and the plunger handle when the deployment guard is in position, wherein the deployment guard comprises a substantially planar body that resides between and extends a distance below the needle handle and the plunger handle, the deployment guard having one long side with a pair of longitudinally extending closely spaced apart arms that define a longitudinally extending channel that contacts and releasably holds a stem of the plunger, wherein, in operation the plunger handle slides the plunger a distance into the needle to force the strand with the radioactive material to exit the needle into target tissue, and wherein a portion of the tether extends externally away from the assembly between the needle handle and the plunger handle when the deployment guard is in position.