Closable loop access guide catheter

• US 20090182268A1
• Filed: 01/09/2009
• Published: 07/16/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 01/11/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Joseph Michael Thielen, William Joseph Drasler
• Original Assignee: Joseph Michael Thielen, William Joseph Drasler
• Inventors: Drasler, William Joseph, Thielen, Joseph Michael
• Granted Patent: US 8,029,461 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 604/95.40
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2025/0161 wherein the distal tips have two or more deflection regions
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2025/0163 Looped catheters
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 25/0138 having flexible regions as a result of weakened outer material, e.g. slots, slits, cuts, joints or coils
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 25/0147 with movable mechanical means, e.g. pull wires
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 25/0152 with pre-shaped mechanisms, e.g. pre-shaped stylets or pre-shaped outer tubes
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 25/0662 Guide tubes

Abstract

The Access guide catheter provides passage for therapeutic and diagnostic devices through vessels or conduits that return substantially in a direction from which they originated. One application is for delivery of therapeutic catheters to the carotid or cerebral arteries via access from the radial or brachial artery. The guide catheter enters the aorta from one of the great vessels, forms a closed loop in the aorta, and is directed back into a great vessel in an opposed direction. The distal portion of the guide catheter is advanced into the great vessel for support. Further support is attained by providing tension to the proximal shaft of the guide catheter. Flexibility of the guide catheter allows diagnostic angiograms to be performed prior to delivery of a therapeutic catheter or device.

Claims

1. A catheter for providing access to a vessel of the body for passage of an interventional catheter comprising;

A. a tubular shaft having a tensioning element at its proximal end and having a distal loop region,

B. a fiber forming an attachment point to the distal end of said loop region at one or more locations and extending through at least one fiber opening proximal to said fiber attachment point,

C. said tensioning element being able to apply and hold tension to said fiber to form a closed loop in said loop region by placing said fiber attachment point into close approximation with said fiber opening.

2. The catheter of claim 1 wherein said fiber opening extends through said tubular shaft wall proximal to said fiber attachment point.

3. The catheter of claim 1 wherein said fiber opening consists of the distal end of an external sheath placed around said tubular shaft and movable along the axis of said tubular shaft.

4. The catheter of claim 1 wherein all but one of said fiber attachment points are releasable fiber attachment points that enable the point of attachment to translate its location along the catheter shaft.

5. The catheter of claim 4 wherein said releasable fiber attachment points are comprised of attachment loops formed in said fiber, said attachment loops being releasable by a release member.

6. The catheter of claim 5 wherein said release member is a portion of a second fiber.

7. The catheter of claim 1 further comprising releasable fiber openings located along the catheter shaft to provide temporary passage for said fiber.

8. The catheter of claim 7 wherein said releasable fiber openings are releasable loops formed in a second fiber.

9. The catheter of claim 7 wherein all but one of said fiber opening are releasable fiber openings that enable said fiber openings to interact consecutively along the catheter shaft.

10. The catheter of claim 1 further comprising a distal region of said tubular shaft distal to said loop region, said distal region having said fiber releasably attached to said distal region.

11. The catheter of claim 1 wherein said loop region is of a large enough diameter to allow passage of a therapeutic catheter therethrough and said proximal region is significantly smaller in diameter thereby providing a rapid exchange guide catheter.

12. The catheter of claim 11 wherein said loop region is expandable from a first smaller diameter during entry into the body vessel to a larger second diameter after delivery to the body vessel.

13. The catheter of claim 1 wherein a lumen of said catheter provides passage for a segmented mandrel;

said segmented mandrel being comprised of shaped segments connected by one or more tensioning wires;

said tensioning wires providing for tension to cause said segmented mandrel to form one or more curves in said segmented mandrel and said catheter.

14. The method of use for a catheter extending from one region of a vessel to another region of a vessel, said method comprising the steps,

A. advancing percutaneously within a first region of a vessel a catheter having a tubular shaft having a proximal region, a distal loop region joined to said proximal region, and a fiber extending slideably from the proximal end of said proximal region to the proximal end of said loop region and at least temporarily attached near the proximal end of said loop region,

B. positioning the proximal end of said loop region into a second region of a blood vessel,

C. pulling said fiber to cause said loop region to form a closed loop.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising the steps of advancing a distal region of said catheter located distally to said loop region into a third region of a blood vessel.

16. The method of use for a catheter for providing access to a delivery vessel of the body from an access vessel with an opposing direction, the access vessel and delivery vessel joining with a larger diameter tubular vessel;

A. advancing said catheter having a tubular shaft having a proximal region and a distal loop region into the access vessel,

B. advancing said distal loop region into the larger diameter tubular vessel,

C. applying tension to a fiber extending slideably in the proximal region and attached at the distal end of said loop region near the distal end of the catheter, and

D. forming a closed loop in said distal loop region.