Patent ID: 8491602

Claim:
A pneumostomy procedure used to create a pneumostoma through a chest wall, parietal membrane and visceral membrane into a lung of a patient, wherein the pneumostomy procedure comprises: (a) creating an opening through the chest wall and parietal membrane; (b) engaging the visceral membrane of the lung; (c) securing the visceral membrane to the parietal membrane adjacent the opening; (d) making another opening through the visceral membrane; (e) inserting a distal end of a pneumostomy catheter through the another opening into parenchymal tissue of the lung; (f) expanding an expandable device at the distal end of the pneumostomy catheter to displace parenchymal tissue of the lung and secure the distal end of the pneumostomy catheter within the lung; (g) securing the pneumostomy catheter to the chest wall of the patient; (h) leaving the distal end of the pneumostomy catheter embedded in the parenchymal tissue to create the pneumostoma; (i) collapsing the expandable device at the distal end of the pneumostomy catheter; (j) removing the pneumostomy catheter from the patient after formation of the pneumostoma, wherein the pneumostoma includes an artificial channel connecting a cavity in the parenchymal tissue created by the pneumostomy catheter to the air external to the patient's body; (k) inserting a pneumostoma management device into the pneumostoma to protect the pneumostoma and maintain patency of the pneumostoma, wherein the pneumostoma management device has a different structure than the pneumostomy catheter; and (l) wherein an airtight pleurodesis seal between the visceral and parietal membranes is not formed prior to performing (a), (b), (c), (d), (e), (f), and (g), thereby allowing the lung to deflate during the procedure resulting in a temporary pneumothorax.