Double-wall surgical cuff

Claim 1

A surgical cuff for introduction into an integral body passage comprising: (A) A tubular base member; (B) An imperforate flexible inflatable tubular inner cuff member having its outer ends connected to said tubular base member; (C) a flexible distensible tubular outer cuff member having its outer ends connected to said tubular base member, the proximal outer end of said outer cuff member being connected to said tubular base member at a given distance from the proximal outer end of said inner cuff member and the distal outer end of said outer cuff member being connected to said tubular base member at a distance from the distal outer end of said inner cuff member which is substantially the same as said given distance, the wall of said outer cuff member being multiperforated at spaced points; (D) A sponge-like material in the space between said inner and outer cuff members and adapted to absorb a surgical fluid and then expel said fluid when compressed, said sponge-like material comprising a layer having a substantially uniform thickness; (E) First passage means communicating with the space between said inner cuff member and outer cuff member for introducing a surgical fluid into said space for absorption for said sponge-like material; and (F) Second passage means communicating with the space between said inner cuff member and said tubular base member for inflating said inner cuff member to displace wall portions thereof toward the wall of said outer cuff member; (G) Whereby the spacing between the opposed walls of the inner and outer cuff members is reduced to uniformly compress said sponge-like material and thereby transmit absorbed surgical fluid outwardly through the perforations of the wall of said outer cuff member; and (H) Whereby said flexible inner cuff member may be further expanded to gently press said flexible outer cuff member, via said sponge-like material, against the wall of the integral body passage to close the passage; and (I) Whereby said sponge-like material also functions like a buffer and smooths out the application of the pressure against said wall of the body passage and thereby reduces the possibility of ischemic necrosis of the integral body passage; and (J) Whereby when said inner cuff member is deflated said perforations of the wall of said outer cuff member are closed preventing backflow of said surgical fluid and thereby precisely controlling the amount of said surgical fluid transmitted around said outer cuff member.