Resealable Puncture Housing for Surgical Implantation

A related patent application Ser. No. 723,338 now abandoned, and refiled as Ser. No. 926,484 on a Skin Flap Development Device, invented by Chadomir Radovan and myself, describes a surgically implantable puncture housing. This housing is joined to a highly inflatable envelope and both are surgically implanted beneath the skin. Periodic hypodermic injections of fluid into the puncture housing causes the envelope to progressively expand over a period of several weeks. This causes a skin flap over the envelope to "grow" and create additional skin area for a breast pouch, etc. after a mastectomy. After sufficient skin growth, the device described in that application can be removed and a normal mammary prosthesis inserted.

Because fluid is injected under high pressure into the puncture housing, it is important to (1) properly seal the puncture housing after withdrawing the needle, and (2) provide a convenient target for hypodermic puncture through the skin and housing.

In my prior U.S. Pat. No. 3,310,051, I describe a silicone capsule for implantation beneath the skin into which fluid can be injected or withdrawn by a hypodermic syringe. The puncturable capsule described in that patent works well when connected to a ventricular catheter for removing or injecting fluid into a patient's brain. However, the high pressure needed to maintain a pressure to "grow" a skin flap as described in application Ser. No. 723,338, causes such housing to leak at the needle puncture sites.

It has been proposed to utilize a plug shaped capsule that contains a silicone gel to help reseal needle puncture of a surgically implanted puncture bulb. Such device is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,831,583. The shape and dimension of this plug-like sealant chamber is not conveniently usable with the injection angle commonly used by nurses and physicians. To gain control over subcutaneous injections, the hypodermic needle is frequently placed at a widely angled position, almost parallel to the skin. This gives the operator better control of the injection point and puncture depth than a position more perpendicular to the skin. The preferred injection position for the Skin Flap Development Device of Ser. No. 723,338 is shown in a sketch in the Heyer-Schulte Introductory Data Sheet for the Skin Flap Development Device (copy enclosed). My prior U.S. Pat. No. 3,310,351 also shows the widely angled injection position.

The present invention overcomes the problems described above and provides a subcutaneous injection housing that has a sealant chamber which can reseal needle punctures in the housing into which high pressure fluid is injected and maintained. The sealant chamber is thin, having a thickness of less than 20% of its length or width to provide a very wide angle needle injection. To aid in convenient puncturing from such wide angle, the sealant chamber is generally dome shaped.

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a skin flap development device using the puncture housing of this invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged top view of the puncture housing taken along line 2--2 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a further enlarged sectional view of the puncture housing taken along line 3--3 of FIG. 2.

In FIG. 1, the Skin Flap Development Device is shown with a highly expandable envelope 1 connected by a tube 2 to a puncture housing 3 that is substantially nonexpandable. This device is implanted beneath skin 4 which is shown schematically as covering only the puncture housing 3. It is understood that skin 4 would also cover inflatable envelope 1. By periodic high pressure injections of fluid through needle 5, envelope 1 progressively forces the skin covering highly expandable envelope 1 to grow to the size indicated by dotted line 6.

The puncture housing structure is best shown in FIG. 3 in which a layer of sealant material, such as a silicone gel 8, is sandwiched between an outer wall portion 9 and an inner wall portion 10 of the puncture housing. Wall portions 9 and 10 can be of a silicone rubber material. Each wall preferably has a generally constant wall thickness. It can be seen from FIG. 3 that the sealant layer is relatively thin, and preferably has a thickness less than 20% of its length or width to provide widely angled puncture positions for the hypodermic needle.

The sealant layer 8 is in a generally dome shape so that the hypodermic needle can enter at an edge of the dome and still pass through the sealant layer 8 into a reservoir chamber 11.

If desired, a nonpuncturable plate member 12 can be provided in chamber 11 to protect puncture of the housing's base 13. For dimensional stability, a structural support member, such as a woven fabric 14, can be imbedded in the base. The dome shaped wall portions 9 and 10 are sealed to base 13 at a peripheral flange area 15.

Throughout the specification and claims, the sealant has been described as a "layer." This term is to be used in its broadest connotation and includes a highly viscous silicone gel 8 that can move around when squeezed within the sealant chamber defined by wall portions 9 and 10.

In the above description, a specific example has been used to describe this invention. However, it is understood by those skilled in the art that certain modifications can be made to this example without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.