Importance

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Abstract

A combination for accessing a body conduit includes a trocar for creating a hole into the body conduit. A cannula included in the trocar has a cylindrical wall with an outside diameter and an inside diameter. An elastomeric tube having a channel extending between a proximal end and a distal end is movable between a normal state wherein the tube has a first outside diameter greater than the outside diameter of the cannula and a stretched state wherein the tube has a second outside diameter less than the inside diameter of the cannula. A stylet having a length longer than the length of the tube in the normal state engages the tube at its distal end and is operable to move the tube from the normal state to the stretched state permitting the tube to be inserted into the cannula and through the cannula into the body conduit. The stylet and cannula can then be removed from the tube leaving the tube extending through the hole into the body conduit with the tube in the normal state and its first outside diameter filling the hole left by the smaller outside diameter of the cannula. An associated method includes the steps of stretching the tube along the stylet from the normal state to the stretched state and inserting the stretched tube through the cannula into the body conduit. The stylet is then removed from the tube leaving the tube in the cannula. Finally, the cannula is removed from the tube leaving the tube extending percutaneously through the abdominal wall and into the body conduit of the patient.

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First Claim