Intragastric device with expandable portions

Abstract

Devices and methods for treating obesity are provided. More particularly, intragastric devices and methods of fabricating, deploying, inflating, monitoring, and retrieving the same are provided.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An intragastric balloon configured to have a useful life in an in vivo gastric environment of at least 30 days, comprising:
 a polymeric wall configured to have, under conditions of an in vivo gastric environment, a permeability to CO 2  of more than 10 cc/m 2 /day, such that a rate and an amount of diffusion of CO 2  from the in vivo gastric environment into a lumen of the balloon through the polymeric wall is controlled, at least in part, by a concentration of an inert gas in an initial fill gas, wherein the polymeric wall comprises one or more expandable sections configured to stretch from 10% to 400% in response to an increased volume of a fluid inside the volume-occupying subcomponent; and   a valve system configured for introducing the initial fill gas into the lumen of the balloon in the in vivo gastric environment.   
     
     
         2 . The intragastric balloon of  claim 1 , wherein the polymeric wall comprises a three layer CO 2  barrier material consisting of nylon/polyvinylidene chloride/polyethylene. 
     
     
         3 . The intragastric balloon of  claim 1 , wherein the polymeric wall comprises a two layer CO 2  barrier material consisting of nylon/polyethylene material and no additional CO 2  barrier material. 
     
     
         4 . The intragastric balloon of  claim 1 , wherein the initial fill gas consists essentially of SF 6  and N 2 . 
     
     
         5 . The intragastric balloon of  claim 1 , wherein the initial fill gas consists essentially of SF 6 . 
     
     
         6 . The intragastric balloon of  claim 1 , wherein an entirety of the polymeric wall is expandable. 
     
     
         7 . The intragastric balloon of  claim 1 , comprising one or more non-expandable sections. 
     
     
         8 . The intragastric balloon of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more expandable sections comprises a band positioned around any section of the intragastric balloon. 
     
     
         9 . The intragastric balloon of  claim 8 , wherein the band wraps around a circumference of the intragastric balloon. 
     
     
         10 . The intragastric balloon of  claim 8 , wherein the band has one or more curved or angled sections. 
     
     
         11 . The intragastric balloon of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more expandable sections comprises multiple bands of expandable material. 
     
     
         12 . The intragastric balloon of  claim 1 , comprising one or more non-expandable bands positioned around any section of the intragastric balloon. 
     
     
         13 . The intragastric balloon of  claim 1 , comprising a plurality of expandable panels. 
     
     
         14 . The intragastric balloon of  claim 13 , wherein the expandable panels are each the same size. 
     
     
         15 . The intragastric balloon of  claim 13 , comprising a plurality of nonexpandable panels. 
     
     
         16 . The intragastric balloon of  claim 15 , wherein the nonexpandable panels comprise a mesh. 
     
     
         17 . The intragastric balloon of  claim 15 , wherein there are an equal number of expandable panels and nonexpandable panels. 
     
     
         18 . The intragastric balloon of  claim 1 , comprising one or more expandable protrusions configured to protrude from a surface of the intragastric balloon. 
     
     
         19 . The intragastric balloon of  claim 1 , wherein the polymeric wall comprises a plurality of layers, wherein one or more sections of the layers are expandable. 
     
     
         20 . A method for inflating an intragastric balloon, comprising:
 introducing, in an in vivo intragastric environment, an initial fill gas comprising an inert gas into a lumen of an intragastric balloon according to  claim 1 ; and   exposing the balloon to the in vivo intragastric environment for a useful life of at least 30 days, wherein a rate and an amount of diffusion of CO 2  from the in vivo gastric environment into the lumen of the balloon through the polymeric wall is controlled, at least in part, by a concentration of an inert gas in the initial fill gas.