Patent ID: 8177742
Filing Date: 2012-05-15
Classification: A61J

Abstract:
1. An enteral feeding tube assembly having a base deployed outside the human body and an indwelling retainer which is deployed within a lumen of the body by insertion through a stoma from outside the body, the assembly comprising: a tube having a proximal end, a distal end, an external tube diameter, and tube walls defining a feeding lumen and an inflation lumen; a base located at the proximal end of the tube, the base defining an opening to the feeding lumen, the base having a first end and a second end; an inflatable balloon located at a distal end of the tube in fluid communication with the inflation lumen, the balloon having thin, flexible walls, a predetermined spheroid shape, a predetermined fill volume, and a reserve volume that is less than the predetermined fill volume and at which a fluid in the balloon is under no pressure, such that upon inflation with a fluid beyond an upper limit of the reserve volume to pressurize fluid in the balloon, the balloon assumes a stable spheroid shape and exhibits a substantially linear pressure versus volume curve to at least the predetermined fill volume; an inflation valve located on the base, the inflation valve in fluid communication with the balloon through the inflation lumen; and an indicator located on the base in fluid communication with the balloon, the indicator configured to provide a discrete visual signal that the volume of the balloon is different from a predetermined fill volume or from a reserve volume.