Catheter for treating arterial occlusion

• US 4,589,419 A
• Filed: 11/01/1984
• Issued: 05/20/1986
• Est. Priority Date: 11/01/1984
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: University of Iowa Research Foundation
• Original Assignee: University of Iowa Research Foundation
• Inventors: Wilson, Robert F., Drews, Thomas A., Laughlin, Donald E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Howell, Kyle L.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Jaworski, Francis J.
• Application Number:
  US06/667,130
• Time in Patent Office: 565 Days
• Field of Search: 128/663, 128/661, 604/96-99, 604/101, 73/861.25
• US Class Current: 600/439
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 17/22 Implements for squeezing-off ulcers or the like on the inside of inner organs of the body; Implements for scraping-out cavities of body organs, e.g. bones; Calculus removers; Calculus smashing apparatus; Apparatus for removing obstructions in blood vessels, not otherwise provided for dilators A61M29/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/22082 after introduction of a substance
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/3784 both receiver and transmitter being in the instrument or receiver being also transmitter
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/06 Measuring blood flow measuring volume flow in general G01F, e.g. G01F1/66, G01F1/72; measuring speed of fluids in general G01P5/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/12 in body cavities or body tracts, e.g. by using catheters catheters per se A61M25/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/445 Details of catheter construction
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 90/39 Markers, e.g. radio-opaque or breast lesions markers

Abstract

The cardiac catheter of this invention combines in a single, thin tube, an acoustic transducer for determining blood flow velocity, and a separate lumen with a removable, flexible, radio-opaque guide wire, enabling the surgeon to locate the site of arterial blockage, evaluate the blockage, and assess the effect of the treatment.

Claims

1. In the method for treating blockage of a coronary artery in which a catheter is threaded up to the site of the blockage by following a radio-opaque guide wire in the catheter flouroscopically, the improvement comprising the steps of

determining the rate at which blood is flowing in the artery by means of a single-crystal Doppler transducer embedded in the side of the catheter near its distal end,

administrating a vasodilator, and

determining from the subsequent change in blood flow velocity measured by the Doppler transducer whether the artery downstream of the transducer is patent.

2. In a cardiac catheter of the type having more than one lumen, electrically conductive wires in one of the lumens, and in another lumen a radio-opaque guide wire, the improvement which comprises

a single-crystal doppler transducer mounted on the side of the catheter near its distal end and at an acute angle to the longitudinal axis of the catheter at the mounting site of the transducer, connected to the wires in the lumen.

4. The catheter of claim 2 further comprising

a longitudinal septum in the lumen of the tube dividing the lumen into an upper and a lower lumen.

3. A catheter having a longitudinal wall, the wall defining a longitudinal lumen, and a proximal and a distal end,

electrically conductive wires embedded in the wall of the catheter, and

a single-crystal Doppler transducer affixed in the wall of the catheter at an acute angle to the longitudinal axis of the catheter at the mounting site of the transducer near its distal end.