Patent ID: 8518032

Claim:
A method for treating a tissue region at or near a sphincter comprising selecting at least one polymer material, providing a source of the at least one polymer material, deploying through an esophagus a flexible catheter carrying on its distal end a tissue-piercing element adjacent a tissue region at or near a sphincter, the catheter having a length between 40 and 180 centimeters, the tissue-piercing element having a lumen opening at a distal tip of the tissue-piercing element; coupling the catheter to the source of the at least one polymer material, and applying through the lumen opening in the distal tip of the tissue-piercing element the at least one polymer material to form an array of spaced-apart polymer material particles in the tissue region and; transforming the polymer material to a less liquid state to increase a thickness of the sphincter wall and reduce a diameter of the sphincter wall to treat a sphincter.