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Galleries // 2021 Spark:Health // LINX® Reflux Management System Esophagus Sizing Tool

LINX® Reflux Management System Esophagus Sizing Tool

Finalist

Competition: Spark:Health
Designer: Cory Kimball - Staff Industrial Designer
Design Type: Medical Device Design
Company / Organization / School: Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices Companies/Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc.
Website: http://https://www.jnjmedicaldevices.com/en-US
Team Members: Cory Kimball & the Industrial Design and Human Factors team at Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc./Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices Companies

An important laparoscopic accessory within the LINX® System, the LINX® Reflux Management System Esophagus Sizing Tool measures the lower esophagus to determine the appropriately sized LINX® implant for reflux management. Sizing, a critical step in the LINX® procedure, enables the surgeon to correctly fit the LINX® System device – a small flexible ring of magnets that permanently encircles the lower esophageal sphincter. The magnets help to augment a weak lower esophageal sphincter, keeping the harmful stomach acid that causes heartburn and damage in patients with GERD from flowing into the esophagus. The Sizing Tool is designed for one-handed use, particularly important in the confined space of laparoscopic procedures. An easy-to-deploy sizing mechanism on the distal end offers a soft, circular, curved tip that is actuated by coaxial tubes using a handset with numerical indicators that correspond to the size range of the LINX® System implant. The tip advances and is affixed with a magnet. This sterile, single-use device incorporates a rigid shaft to prevent bending.1 A scale offers clear sizing and high visibility from either side of the device.1,2 An easy-to-use thumbwheel provides the user with tactile and audible feedback as the device moves through each discrete size. 1,2