Patent ID: 7207936

Claim:
A male sexual impotence treatment apparatus, comprising a constriction device implantable in a male patient, who suffers from sexual impotence, for engaging the patient's penile tissue or the prolongation thereof, the constriction device including an elongate adjustable constriction member extending in a loop around the penile tissue or the prolongation thereof, and an implantable adjustment device for adjusting the longitudinal extension of the constriction member in the loop to temporarily constrict the penile tissue or the prolongation thereof to restrict the penile exit blood flow to achieve erection, a layer of a soft viscoelastic material being applied on the constriction device such that the layer is located between the constriction device and the patient's penile tissue or the prolongation thereof at least along a portion of the constriction member, when the constriction device is implanted, to protect the penile tissue or the prolongation thereof from being eroded by the constriction device, the layer of viscoelastic material having an inwardly directed radial extension in the loop, such that when the adjustment device is operated to decrease the longitudinal extension of the constriction member in the loop, the layer of viscoelastic material is forced to expand radially inwardly in the loop, causing a corresponding increased constriction of the penile tissue or the prolongation thereof, wherein the layer of viscoelastic material is divided into a series of separate elongate cells of viscoelastic material distributed around the elongate constriction member.