A variety of elongate implantable medical devices, for example, drug delivery catheters and medical electrical leads, are known in the art, for example, to couple a therapy delivery generator and/or diagnostic devices to a target site within a body of a patient, for example, in the spinal column or in any of a number of internal organs. Those skilled in the art are familiar with apparatus and methods for anchoring these implanted devices. FIG. 1 is a schematic depicting a surgical incision site 12 through which an exemplary elongate medical device 110 has been implanted. FIG. 1 illustrates a length of device 110 extending proximally out from site 12 and an anchor sleeve 10 surrounding a body of device 110, for example, with a relatively tight, interference fit, to facilitate anchoring of device 110 to subcutaneous tissue 14, for example, via sutures (not shown) tied thereabout and sewn into the tissue 14. If it becomes necessary to reposition the anchored implanted device 110, the sutures can be cut, but it may also be desirable to remove and replace anchor sleeve 10 with a new anchor sleeve, or to reposition anchor sleeve 10, at a new location along the body of device 110, and then to re-anchor the repositioned device.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds