Occlusion assembly for sealing openings in blood vessels and a method for sealing openings in blood vessels

DETAILED DESCRIPTION We claim: 1.
An occlusion assembly for percutaneously sealing a puncture in the wall of an artery or vein in the human body comprising: a flexible retaining element; a pair of clamping members mounted to the retaining element each of said clamping members being sized to be placed entirely beneath the surface of the skin and in turn having a surface for engaging the wall; both of the clamping members being insertable percutaneously below the skin to be engageable with the wall of the artery or vein; one of the clamping members being capable of being passed through the puncture in the artery or vein and being constructed to lie in facing contact against the internal surface of the artery or vein adjacent the site of the puncture, the other clamping member being movable along the retaining element toward the first mentioned clamping member to engage and lie in facing contact against the outside surface of the artery or vein thereby to clamp the wall of the artery or vein directly between the two clamping members to prevent blood flow through the puncture sufficiently to enable the puncture to heal; at least one of the clamping members being formed from a bioabsorbable material.
2.
An occlusion assembly as defined in claim 1 wherein one of the clamping members comprises an occlusion element and the other clamping member comprises a locking element for cooperation with the occlusion element to clamp the wall of the artery or vein therebetween.
3.
An occlusion assembly as defined in claim 2 wherein the occlusion element is sized to be passed through the puncture in the artery or vein to engage the inner surface of the artery or vein and the locking element is sized to lie against the outside of the artery or vein.
4.
An occlusion assembly as defined in claim 3, wherein the occlusion assembly further comprises a fixing element firmly connected to the retaining element.
5.
An occlusion assembly as defined in claim 4 wherein the fixing element comprises a curved rod-shaped element and the retaining element is attached to the center thereof such that when the retaining element is tensioned the center of the rod-shaped element is drawn against the occlusion element