Patent ID: 9533070
Date: 2017-01-03
CPC Classifications: A61B,A61K,A61L,A61M

Claim:
1. A non-surgical method of reducing lung volume in a patient suffering from pulmonary emphysema comprising: inserting a catheter into a respiratory region of the patient; the respiratory region having pulmonary alveoli or alveolar sacs, and the respiratory region including an inner wall possessing an inner peripheral surface; injecting a respiratory region volume reducer, which comprises a coating film-forming component that contains a polymer electrolyte A having a negative charge, into the respiratory region by way of the catheter to form a coating film of the respiratory region volume reducer on the inner wall of the respiratory region; wherein polymer electrolyte A is selected from the group consisting of polyamino acids, artificially synthesized polypeptides, polysaccharides, hyaluronic acid, chondroitin, pectin, agarose, glycosaminoglycan, cellulose, starch, artificially synthesized polysaccharides, and mixtures thereof; externally stimulating the coating film by applying polymer electrolyte B having a positive charge to form a cured balloon-shaped closed pouch made of the coating film that is in intimate contact with the inner peripheral surface of the respiratory region; wherein polymer electrolyte B is poly(N,N-dimethylaminophropylacrylamide); and shrinking the balloon-shaped closed pouch by reducing pressure inside the balloon-shaped closed pouch from outside of the respiratory region.