Patent ID: 9056005
Filing Date: 2015-06-16
Classification: A61F

Abstract:
1. A method for repositioning a human subject's arytenoid cartilage using a kit, the kit comprising: a device for repositioning a human subject's arytenoid cartilage, comprising: a threaded coupler capable of engaging the thyroid cartilage; and a fastener sized and shaped such that it may be attached to a thyroid cartilage of the human subject, the fastener defining a through hole for receiving the threaded coupler, the hole sized and shaped to allow the threaded coupler and the wire to simultaneously pass through the hole while the wire passes through the thyroid cartilage substantially non-perpendicular to the thyroid cartilage, the recesses or protrusions being sized and shaped to engage the fastener and secure the wire to the fastener when (a) the coupler and wire simultaneously pass through the hole, (b) the threaded coupler secures the fastener to the thyroid cartilage by engaging the thyroid cartilage, and (c) the threaded coupler partially obscures the hole; wherein the method comprises: making an incision in the subject's neck so as to allow access to the subject's cricothyroid membrane; advancing the device through the incision; further advancing the device through the subject's cricothyroid membrane into the paraglottic space; engaging a tissue of the subject with the distal end of the device, wherein the tissue comprises at least one of the subject's arytenoid muscular process, a thyroarytenoid muscle insertion, or a cricoarytenoid muscle insertion; and securing the proximal end of the device by passing the coupler and the wire simultaneously through the hole defined by the fastener, and affixing the coupler to a tissue of the patient, thereby affixing the fastener to at least one of the recesses or protrusions of the proximal end of the device.