Catheter

• US 3,885,561 A
• Filed: 08/12/1974
• Issued: 05/27/1975
• Est. Priority Date: 12/15/1971
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Charles N. Mazal Cami
• Original Assignee: Charles N. Mazal Cami
• Inventors: Cami, Charles N. Mazal
• Primary Examiner(s): Medbery, Aldrich F.
• Application Number:
  US05/496,690
• Time in Patent Office: 288 Days
• Field of Search: 128/214,2R,2B,130,224,348,349R,349B,349BV,35R,35V
• US Class Current: 604/247
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2025/0007 Epidural catheters
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 25/007 Side holes, e.g. their profiles or arrangements; Provisions to keep side holes unblocked
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 25/0108 using radio-opaque or ultrasound markers
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 137/7771 Bi-directional flow valves
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 137/7884 Side vent

Abstract

A catheter for epidural anesthesia comprising a plastic tube which has its near end open permitting adaptation to the tip of syringe or the like, and the opposite or distal end rounded and carrying embedded in the interior of same a metallic piece opaque to X-rays; having in the distal end, which is closed, from two to six longitudinal slits, each of which is both longitudinally and circumferentially offset from the nearest adjacent slit so that the diametral planes in which said slits are placed form a dihedral angle of at least 45*, and furthermore by the fact that none of the diametral planes in which each slit is located has more than one slit, thus affording the catheter practically the same rigidity as that of a catheter having no slit whatever.

Claims

1. A catheter for epidural anesthesia composed of a plastic material having its near end open and adapted for connection to a syringe and having its distal end closed and rounded and having embedded in its internal portion a metallic piece which is opaque to X-rays, said catheter having near its distal end a plurality of longitudinal slits for delivering anesthetic, each of said slits being both longitudinally and circunferentially offset from the nearest slit so that each slit be placed in a different diametral plane, and being so spaced from the adjacent slit that the diametral planes on which they are located form an angle of at least 45*, thus giving the catheter substantially equal rigidity to that of a catheter having no slit whatever.

2. The catheter for epidural anesthesia as described in claim 1, wherein the slits for delivering anestesic consist of from two to six slits longitudinally spaced from each other.

3. The catheter for epidural anesthesia as described in claim 1, wherein the metallic portion for detection by X-rays embedded within the distal end of the catheter is a piece of cylindrical wire which is inert to biological tissues and does not engage in ion exchange with the biological liquids and tissues.