Prosthesis (i.e. – artificial body members) – parts thereof – or ai – Breast prosthesis – Implantable
Patent
1997-04-21
1998-12-01
Brittingham, Debra S.
Prosthesis (i.e., artificial body members), parts thereof, or ai
Breast prosthesis
Implantable
623 7, A61F 212
Patent
active
058431896
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a breast prosthesis. It relates also to a method for manufacture of such a prosthesis.
Breast prostheses are known which are designed to be implanted under the skin as a replacement for the mammary gland following its removal.
These prostheses are made up of an elastomeric envelope delimiting a hermetically closed space which is filled with a silicone gel or physiological serum.
Silicone gels reproduce the appearance and consistency of the natural mammary gland fairly well, but they are sometimes regarded unfavorably by public opinion.
Physiological serum poses a reduced risk to the patient, but its substantial fluidity does not permit good aesthetic characteristics of the prosthesis to be achieved. In particular, the considerable mobility of the physiological serum inside the envelope causes abrupt deformations of the prosthesis and is the origin of disconcerting noises.
Solutions which have been proposed to reduce the mobility of the physiological serum filler consist in arranging an open-cell foam in the envelope. Such foams, consisting of a silicone elastomer, are particularly difficult to produce and, in addition, they lack dimensional stability over the course of time. Furthermore, the random network of the cells in a foam and of the communicating passages does not allow the mechanical properties of the prosthesis to be defined as one would wish.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the invention is to propose a breast prosthesis which has mechanical properties close to those of a natural mammary gland, does not have the disadvantages mentioned hereinabove, and permits in particular the use of physiological serum as the filling fluid.
To this end, the subject of the invention is a breast prosthesis characterized in that it includes a plurality of pockets which are filled with a fluid and which each have, at rest, a predetermined configuration, each pocket being delimited by a flexible membrane, and means which hold the pockets against one another.
The invention can have one or more of the following characteristics: which the pockets are contained; the pockets is filled with fluid; strings of closed pockets; circulation of the fluid; their circulation openings so as to form one or more strings of communicating pockets; membrane;
The invention relates also to a method for manufacture of a breast prosthesis in which the pockets are made integral with one another so as to form one or more strings of closed pockets, characterized in that it includes the following steps: teeth so as to form strings consisting of hermetically closed pockets in the non-crushed zones, connected by flexible links in the crushed zones; and another.
Moreover, the invention relates to a method for manufacture of a breast prosthesis in which the pockets are connected to one another by way of fine conduits connecting their circulation openings so as to form one or more strings of communicating pockets, characterized in that it includes the following steps: with crushing teeth so as to form strings consisting of fine conduits in the crushed zones and pockets, communicating with one another via these conduits, in the non-crushed zones, and
The invention relates also to another method for manufacture of a breast prosthesis in which the pockets are connected to one another by way of fine conduits connecting their circulation openings so as to form one or more strings of communicating pockets, characterized in that it includes the following steps: connected to one another by way of fine conduits, and
The methods can present one or more of the following characteristics: pockets is partially crosslinked; strings are rolled up in a cavity of a mold having essentially the dimensions of the prosthesis, then the pockets of the strings are crosslinked in order to ensure that they are held in contact against one another.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The invention will be better understood from reading the following description which is given solely by way of example and
REFERENCES:
patent: 3095877 (1963-07-01), Rowan
patent: 3986213 (1976-10-01), Lynch
patent: 4773909 (1988-09-01), Chaglassian
patent: 5246454 (1993-09-01), Peterson
patent: 5447535 (1995-09-01), Muller
patent: 5534023 (1996-07-01), Henley
patent: 5549671 (1996-08-01), Waybright et al.
Brittingham Debra S.
Laboratoire Perouse Implant
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