Catheter with expandable body and method of dilating a blood vessel with such catheter
First Claim
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1. A catheter comprising:
- a shaft having a passage for permitting a working fluid to pass therethrough;
an expandable body disposed on a distal end portion of said shaft and communicable with the passage to be expanded in response to the entry of working fluid into the expandable body and contracted in response to the discharge of working fluid from the expandable body; and
an elastic, slitted, tubular outer sleeve disposed around an outside surface of said expandable body for expanding in response to expansion of said expandable body and for elastically contracting in response to contraction of said expandable body to form the expandable body into a generally rounded shape.
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Abstract
A catheter includes an elastically radially expandable body encompassed by an elastically radially expandable slitted sleeve. Before the body is expanded, the slit is closed but is opened when the body and the sleeve are expanded. When the catheter is used to dilate a constricted portion of a blood vessel, the opened slit defines a recess into which the constricted portion projects, in order to resist slippage of the body off the constricted portion. When the body and the sleeve are allowed to contract, the sleeve forces the body into a generally cylindrical shape to facilitate subsequent re-dilation of the constricted portion.
143 Citations
29 Claims
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1. A catheter comprising:
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a shaft having a passage for permitting a working fluid to pass therethrough;
an expandable body disposed on a distal end portion of said shaft and communicable with the passage to be expanded in response to the entry of working fluid into the expandable body and contracted in response to the discharge of working fluid from the expandable body; and
an elastic, slitted, tubular outer sleeve disposed around an outside surface of said expandable body for expanding in response to expansion of said expandable body and for elastically contracting in response to contraction of said expandable body to form the expandable body into a generally rounded shape. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A method of dilating a constricted portion of a blood vessel comprising the steps of:
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A) inserting into the constricted portion an expandable body of a catheter, with an outer surface of the catheter being encompassed by an elastically expandable sleeve having at least one slit formed therein;
B) imparting an expansion force to the expandable body causing the expandable body and the sleeve to expand radially and dilate the constricted portion of the blood vessel; and
C) relieving the expansion force to allow the expandable body and the expandable sleeve to contract, wherein the sleeve forms the body into a generally rounded shape. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28)
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29. A method of dilating a constricted portion of a blood vessel comprising the steps of:
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A) inserting into the constricted portion an expandable body of a catheter, with an outer surface of the catheter being encompassed by an elastically expandable sleeve having at least one slit formed therein;
B) imparting an expansion force to the expandable body causing the expandable body and the sleeve to expand radially and dilate the constricted portion of the blood vessel;
wherein the at least one slit becomes enlarged to define at least one recess into which the constricted portion projects to resist slipping of the expandable body off the constricted portion; and
C) relieving the expansion force to allow the expandable body and the expandable sleeve to contract.
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Specification