Importance

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Abstract

An assembly for securing an electrode lead within a burr hole formed in a patient's skull. The assembly is provided for reliably, easily, and reversibly securing an implanted electrode lead such that the active portion of the lead which is inside the brain tissue within the skull is not subject to unwanted translations when the external portion of the lead is manipulated. The securing assembly has two separate components. The first is a bone port which seats within a preformed burr hole in the skull. The bone port is a cylindrical shaped short tube which includes a means for gripping the skull on the external periphery of the cylinder. The central axial hole of the port is designed to receive the second lead-locking portion of the assembly. The external surface of the lead-locking portion and the interior surface of the central axial hole of the port include an easily engageable coupling means, for example a bayonet locking mechanism. The lead-locking portion has a central electrode passage through which the electrode lead may slide freely in an unlocked disposition. The upper section of the lead-locking portion includes a sliding member which may be selectively manipulated between a closed and open position. The sliding member has a lateral edge which, when the member is moved into the closed position, partially occludes the electrode passage such that an electrode is secured by friction in the passage, thus preventing movement of the active implanted portion of the electrode within the skull. The external portion of the electrode, however, can be manipulated freely.

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First Claim