Catheter

• US 10,390,746 B2
• Filed: 05/25/2006
• Issued: 08/27/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/26/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: PlaqueTec Ltd.
• Original Assignee: PlaqueTec Ltd.
• Inventors: Owen, Richard Harley Grenville, Blatcher, Stephen, Fox, Stewart Maddison, Hughes, Martin Lawrence
• Primary Examiner(s): Eiseman, Adam J
• Application Number:
  US11/920,632
• Publication Number:
  US 20090024057A1
• Time in Patent Office: 4,842 Days
• Field of Search: 600573, 600575-576, 600578-579, 600581-582, 600584, 604523, 604532, 604537
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/00094 Suction openings
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/15003 for venous or arterial blood
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/150236 Pistons, i.e. cylindrical bodies that sit inside the syringe barrel, typically with an air tight seal, and slide in the barrel to create a vacuum or to expel blood
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/150992 Blood sampling from a fluid line external to a patient, such as a catheter line, combined with an infusion line; blood sampling from indwelling needle sets, e.g. sealable ports, luer couplings, valves tubing connectors and couplings A61M39/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/153 Devices specially adapted for taking samples of venous or arterial blood, e.g. with syringes
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/154 Devices using pre-evacuated means
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/155 Devices specially adapted for continuous or multiple sampling, e.g. at predetermined intervals devices loaded with multiple lancets simultaneously A61B5/15146
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2025/0008 having visible markings on its surface, i.e. visible to the naked eye, for any purpose, e.g. insertion depth markers, rotational markers or identification of type
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 25/0071 Multiple separate lumens multiple separate lumens throughout the catheter A61M25/0026

Abstract

A catheter for insertion into a blood vessel, the catheter having a sampling part arranged to capture a blood sample at a plurality of locations along a length of the blood vessel and an apparatus arranged to analyze blood taken from a plurality of locations along the length of the blood vessel and to provide a profile of concentration levels along the length of the blood vessel.

Claims

1. A catheter device for insertion into a blood vessel, comprising:

a sampling part arranged to collect and preserve a plurality of spatially separated discrete blood samples from a plurality of locations along a length of the blood vessel;

wherein the sampling part includes;

an axially elongated sample member having an axial array of a plurality of openings for receiving blood from outside of the catheter device at intervals along the length of the blood vessel; and

an elongated sleeve coaxial with the sample member, the sleeve defining an axial passage for housing the sample member and including a plurality of through holes corresponding to said openings in the sample member, and

wherein movement between the sleeve and the sample member aligns all the through holes with the openings of the sample member, to simultaneously expose all the openings to blood outside the catheter device so as to collect the plurality of discrete blood samples along the length of the blood vessel, and

wherein the catheter device is flexible so as to be channeled through the blood vessel, and has a blunt distal end.

2. The catheter device of claim 1, wherein the sampling part includes a plurality of pockets for receiving blood, with at least one pocket corresponding to each of said openings.

3. The catheter device of claim 2, wherein each of said plurality of pockets is at least partially evacuated, and

wherein alignment of the through holes with said openings draws blood from the outside of the catheter device into said pockets.

4. The catheter device of claim 2, wherein the sampling member further includes:

a vacuum passageway connecting each of said pockets, for applying suction to each of said pockets.

5. The catheter device of claim 4, wherein each of said connected pocket and vacuum passageway are pre-filled with a fluid that can be drawn out of the catheter device so as to draw blood from the blood vessel into each said pocket.

6. The catheter device of claim 1, wherein the sampling part includes a plurality of vacuum passageways connected to the plurality of openings, to allow suction to be applied to each of said openings.

7. The catheter device of claim 1, wherein the sampling part includes a plurality of vacuum passageways connected to the plurality of openings;

and

wherein each of said openings is connected to an independent vacuum passageway from the plurality of vacuum passageways, to allow suction to be applied independently to each said opening.

8. The catheter device of claim 7, further comprising:

a plunger within each of the plurality of said vacuum passageway, each plunger being capable of moving in a direction away from its corresponding opening so as to draw blood in through the corresponding opening from the outside of the catheter device.

9. The catheter device of claim 2, wherein the sampling part further comprises within each of said pockets a moveable piston to draw blood through its corresponding opening into the pocket.

10. The catheter device of claim 9, wherein each piston is movable in an axial direction to suck blood into its respective pocket, and the sampling part further comprising an axially extending actuator to which all of the pistons are attached and by which the pistons may be cooperatively moved.

11. The catheter device of claim 2, further comprising:

a membrane layer covering the pockets, the membrane layer allowing blood plasma into the pockets.

12. The catheter device of claim 1, wherein each said discrete blood sample is between 10 μ

l and 50 μ

l.

13. The catheter device of claim 1, wherein said sampling part includes a continuous absorbent material.

14. The catheter device of claim 1, wherein the sampling part is arranged to capture the plurality of discreet blood samples along the length of the blood vessel.

15. The catheter device of claim 1, wherein the openings of the sample member comprise an array of axially and radially spaced openings along the a length of the sample member.

16. A catheter system comprising:

(A) a catheter device for insertion into a blood vessel, the catheter device being flexible so as to be channeled through the blood vessel, and having a blunt distal end, comprising;

a sampling part arranged to collect and preserve a plurality of spatially separated discrete blood samples from a plurality of locations along a length of the blood vessel;

wherein the sampling part includes;

an axially elongated sample member having an axial array of a plurality of openings for receiving blood from outside of the catheter device at intervals along the length of the blood vessel; and

,

an elongated sleeve coaxial with the sample member, the sleeve defining an axial passage for housing the sample member and including a plurality of through holes corresponding to said openings in the sample member, and

wherein movement between the sleeve and the sample member aligns all the through holes with the openings of the sample member, to simultaneously expose all the openings to blood outside the catheter device so as to collect the plurality of discrete blood samples along the length of the blood vessel; and

(B) an apparatus for analyzing discrete blood samples captured by the catheter device, the apparatus being capable of analyzing blood samples taken from the plurality of locations along said length of the blood vessel by providing a profile of concentration levels for one or more pathological markers in the samples taken along said length of the blood vessel.

17. The catheter system of claim 16, wherein the marker is an inflammatory marker.

18. The catheter system of claim 16, wherein the apparatus for analyzing is capable of calculating from the profile of concentration levels for the one or more pathological markers a background level of the one or more pathological markers in the blood samples.

19. The catheter system of claim 16, wherein the profile of concentration levels for the one or more pathological markers is displayed as a 2D map of the concentration levels of the one or more markers in a blood sample from the plurality of blood samples in relation to a location of said blood sample from the plurality of locations along the length of the blood vessel.

20. The catheter system of claim 16, wherein the sleeve and the sample member are configured so that the volume of each of the plurality of discrete blood samples is between about 10 μ

l and 50 μ

l.