Patent ID: 8388642

Claim:
A system for treating ethmoid disease in a human or animal subject, said system comprising: a penetrator comprising a rigid member having a sharp distal tip, the rigid member being advanceable into the nose and the sharp distal tip being insertable through the ethmoid bulla to form an opening into at least one ethmoid air cell; a penetrator sheath having a proximal imagable marker and a distal imagable marker, said penetrator sheath being positionable over the penetrator as the penetrator is being advanced to form said opening, said penetrator being thereafter removeable leaving the penetrator sheath within the formed opening; and an implantable device comprising a substance delivery reservoir, a tube through which a substance is introduceable into the reservoir to inflate the reservoir and a backflow prevention element that is operative to allow a substance to be infused in a first direction through the tube and into the reservoir but prevents substance that has entered the reservoir from backflowing in a second direction through the tube, said implantable device being insertable, with the reservoir in a deflated configuration, into the penetrator sheath after removal of the penetrator therefrom, and being advanceable to a fully-advanced position at which further advancement is prevented; the proximal and distal imagable markers of the penetrator sheath being spaced apart and positioned on the sheath so that they provide predictive indications of the locations at which the proximal and distal ends of the reservoir will reside within the sheath when the implantable device has been inserted to its fully-advanced position within the penetrator sheath; the reservoir being constructed such that, when inflated, the substance will pass out of the reservoir over a period of time causing the configuration of the reservoir to transition toward the deflated configuration.