Patent ID: 7833281

Claim:
A medical apparatus for adding bulk to the lower esophageal sphincter of a patient, comprising: an elongate introducer member including a distal end configured for penetrating tissue and a first passageway extending therethrough; one or more resilient implantable members, each said implantable member being constrainable by the introducer member into an elongate first configuration from an expanded second configuration, the medical apparatus comprising a mechanism configured to urge the one or more implantable members from the introducer member into the tissue of the lower esophageal sphincter, the one or more implantable members being adapted to resiliently expand toward the expanded second configuration upon deployment from the introducer member, said one or more implantable members being configured to expand into static contact with surrounding tissue of the lower esophageal sphincter on implantation to push against the surrounding tissue of the lower esophageal sphincter, so that expansive force by said one or more implantable member on the tissue is in equilibrium with containing force exerted by the tissue on said one or more implantable member, the second configuration being substantially more curvilinear in shape than the first configuration, wherein said apparatus includes a means for separating tissue and creating a pocket within the submucosal layers sufficient for implantation of at least one of the one or more implantable members.