Treatment of lipid pool
First Claim
1. A method of solidifying plaque on the interior of a blood vessel comprising the steps of:
- inserting a catheter assembly having an expandable portion into the blood vessel while the expandable portion is in a collapsed configuration;
advancing the assembly in the blood vessel;
stopping at a plurality of predetermined locations along the blood vessel and expanding the expandable portion to an expanded configuration such that a plurality of temperature detectors contact the interior wall of the blood vessel;
sensing variation in blood vessel temperature at the plurality of predetermined locations along the interior wall of the blood vessel; and
applying thermal energy to, or removing thermal energy from, areas of increased temperature to reduce the possibility of leakage of the plaque into the blood vessel.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for solidifying inflamed and unstable plaque on the interior of a blood vessel including inserting a catheter assembly into a human blood vessel while the assembly is in a first, collapsed configuration, advancing the catheter assembly through the blood vessel, stopping at predetermined intervals and expanding the catheter assembly to a second, expanded configuration such that a plurality of temperature detectors contact the interior wall of the blood vessel. The areas of increased temperature are indicative of inflamed and unstable plaque, which is to be stabilized using at least one multi-temperature device, such as a Peltier device, to solidify the plaque and reduce the possibility of a myocardial infarction.
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Citations
80 Claims
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1. A method of solidifying plaque on the interior of a blood vessel comprising the steps of:
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inserting a catheter assembly having an expandable portion into the blood vessel while the expandable portion is in a collapsed configuration;
advancing the assembly in the blood vessel;
stopping at a plurality of predetermined locations along the blood vessel and expanding the expandable portion to an expanded configuration such that a plurality of temperature detectors contact the interior wall of the blood vessel;
sensing variation in blood vessel temperature at the plurality of predetermined locations along the interior wall of the blood vessel; and
applying thermal energy to, or removing thermal energy from, areas of increased temperature to reduce the possibility of leakage of the plaque into the blood vessel. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. An apparatus for solidifying plaque on the interior wall of a blood vessel comprising:
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a catheter assembly for insertion into and advancement through a blood vessel, wherein the catheter assembly is to be stopped at predetermined intervals along the blood vessel; and
at least one multi-temperature device having a hot side and a cold side for solidifying plaque on the interior wall of the blood vessel. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80)
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48. A method of solidifying plaque on the interior of a blood vessel comprising the steps of:
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inserting a catheter assembly into the blood vessel;
advancing the assembly in the blood vessel;
stopping at a plurality of predetermined locations along the blood vessel such contact the interior wall of the blood vessel;
sensing variation in blood vessel temperature at the plurality of predetermined locations along the interior wall of the blood vessel using a plurality of temperature detectors; and
applying thermal energy to, or removing thermal energy from, areas of increased temperature to reduce the possibility of leakage of the plaque into the blood vessel.
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68. An apparatus for solidifying plaque on the interior wall of a blood vessel comprising:
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a catheter assembly having a collapsed configuration and an expanded configuration, the catheter assembly being in the collapsed configuration during insertion into and advancement through a blood vessel, the catheter assembly being in the expanded configuration during solidification of the plaque;
at least one Peltier device having a hot side and a cold side for solidifying plaque on the interior wall of the blood vessel, the at least one Peltier device being powered by an electrical current having a polarity wherein the polarity of the electrical current can be reversed to change the hot side to the cold side and/or vice-versa;
a plurality of temperature detectors adapted to contact the interior wall of the blood vessel to identify areas of increased temperature indicative of inflamed and/or unstable plaque;
a heat exchanger which removes undesired energy generated by the at least one Peltier device; and
a therapy plate positioned in between the at least one Peltier device and the interior of the blood vessel wall, the therapy plate having a tissue-contacting surface adapted to contact the interior of the vessel wall.
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Specification