Two-compartment catheter

• US 4,795,427 A
• Filed: 10/03/1986
• Issued: 01/03/1989
• Est. Priority Date: 10/05/1985
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Manfred W. Helzel
• Original Assignee: Manfred W. Helzel
• Inventors: Helzel, Manfred W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Truluck, Dalton L.
• Application Number:
  US06/915,050
• Time in Patent Office: 823 Days
• Field of Search: 604/53, 604/52, 604/51, 604/96-103, 604/284, 128/207.15, 128/344, 128/348.1, 128/4
• US Class Current: 604/9
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2025/1072 having balloons with two or more compartments
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 25/1011 Multiple balloon catheters

Abstract

A two-compartment catheter of plastic or rubber is described, which can be introduced into the region of the vena cava where it is joined by the hepatic veins, and serves for therapy of liver diseases and for pharmacological studies on the liver. It consists of a two-lumen catheter which, at one end of the catheter tube, which is to be introduced into the vena cava, has an inflatable elongate extension, the diameter of which at the ends is greater than the diameter in the central region. The inflatable extension has an axially continuous through-flow channel, and the catheter tube leads next to this through-flow channel into a space, separate from the latter, outside the extension.

Claims

1. A catheter for separating hepatic blood from blood from the vena cava, comprising:

a tube for obtaining or collecting hepatic blood, said tube being of a size relatively small in diameter relative to the vena cava;

occluding means for blocking the vena cava on either side of the openings of the hepatic veins into the vena cava and thereby isolating the hepatic blood, said occluding means comprising an at least partially inflatable elongated body attached to one end of the tube and having a central portion and two end portions, said end portions being of a size corresponding to the vena cava when inflated, the diameter of said end portions being greater than the diameter of the central portion so as to provide an annular space between said two end portions isolating said hepatic blood;

means for allowing blood to flow through the vena cava comprising an axial through-flow channel formed through said inflatable elongated body, said through flow channel receiving blood only from the vena cava; and

means for communicating with the hepatic blood via said tube, comprising at least one side orifice formed through one of said end portions which communicated with said isolated annular space to obtain or collect the hepatic blood only.

2. A catheter as claimed in claim 1, wherein said end portions of the elongated body each comprise an annular inflatable balloon, said annular inflatable balloons being connected together by a noninflatable cylindrical membrane.

3. A method for separating hepatic blood from blood from the vena cava, comprising:

inserting into the vena cava an occluding catheter connected to one end of a catheter tube, said catheter comprising an elongaged at least partially inflatable body having a central portion and two end portions, the diameter of said end portions being greater than the diameter of the central portion, said catheter further comprising an axial through-flow channel and a side orifice formed through one of the end portions of the elongated inflatable body;

placing the catheter within the vena cava so that the two end portions are located on either side of the openings of the hepatic veins into the vena cava;

inflating the elongated inflatable body so that the two end portions occlude the vena cava above and below the openings of the hepatic veins into the vena cava so that only blood from the vena cava flows through the through-flow channel, and blood from the hepatic veins is separated from the blood of the vena cava and is diverted into the side orifice.