Wire guided laser catheter
First Claim
1. A catheter for removing biological material by laser energy, the catheter having a proximal end and a distal end and comprising:
- means defining a lumen extending through the catheter, the lumen being open at the distal end of the catheter, said means including a catheter wall;
means at the proximal end of the lumen for permitting fluid communication with the lumen and to permit a guide wire to be received within the lumen;
a plurality of flexible optical conductors extending longitudinally of the catheter and within the catheter wall;
a distal cap mounted on the distal end of the catheter and covering the distal end of the fibers, the distal cap having a distal surface defining an emission surface and providing an optical path from the distal end of the fibers to the emission surface;
an aperture formed through the distal cap in communication with the catheter lumen;
the flexible optical conductors being unattached to the catheter except at the ends of the conductor;
the catheter wall being defined by an elongate core having said lumen extending therethrough and a flexible sheath surrounding the core;
a plurality of flutes formed longitudinally along he outside of the core, the conductors being received in and extending along the flutes and being retained in the flutes by the sheath;
said conductors, core and sheath being substantially unattached to each other along their lengths thereby to enable the core, conductors and sheath to shift longitudinally with respect to each other thereby to permit their simultaneous bending but without any of said core, conductor or sheath restricting the bending of the others.
8 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A catheter having optical fibers for delivering laser energy to a blood vessel to remove obstructions in the blood vessel is adapted to be guided controllably and selectively by a guide wire to the site to be treated. The catheter includes a central lumen which is open at the distal end of the catheter and which receives the guide wire so that the catheter may be advanced over the guide wire. A relatively few number of optical fibers are contained within and extend longitudinally of the catheter wall. The distal tip of the catheter is provided with a cylindrical optically transparent end cap and means are provided to securely mount the distal ends of the optical fibers with respect to the end cap so that the light emitted from the ends of the fibers passes through the cylindrical wall of the end cap and is emitted at the distal emissions face of the end cap. The catheter embodies a special construction of an inner catheter core and a surrounding sheath which provides for a high degree of flexibility to enable the catheter to be passed through tortuous passages in a patient'"'"'s vasculature. The inner core is formed from a plurality of articulated segments and is surrounded by a thin flexible sheath. Longitudinal flutes formed along the articulated segments of the core receive and retain the optical fibers in a manner which permits the fibers, sheath and core to shift longitudinally with respect to each other to provide a very high degree of flexibility for the composition catheter.
201 Citations
39 Claims
-
1. A catheter for removing biological material by laser energy, the catheter having a proximal end and a distal end and comprising:
-
means defining a lumen extending through the catheter, the lumen being open at the distal end of the catheter, said means including a catheter wall; means at the proximal end of the lumen for permitting fluid communication with the lumen and to permit a guide wire to be received within the lumen; a plurality of flexible optical conductors extending longitudinally of the catheter and within the catheter wall; a distal cap mounted on the distal end of the catheter and covering the distal end of the fibers, the distal cap having a distal surface defining an emission surface and providing an optical path from the distal end of the fibers to the emission surface; an aperture formed through the distal cap in communication with the catheter lumen; the flexible optical conductors being unattached to the catheter except at the ends of the conductor; the catheter wall being defined by an elongate core having said lumen extending therethrough and a flexible sheath surrounding the core; a plurality of flutes formed longitudinally along he outside of the core, the conductors being received in and extending along the flutes and being retained in the flutes by the sheath; said conductors, core and sheath being substantially unattached to each other along their lengths thereby to enable the core, conductors and sheath to shift longitudinally with respect to each other thereby to permit their simultaneous bending but without any of said core, conductor or sheath restricting the bending of the others. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 28, 29, 31, 37, 38, 39)
-
-
16. A catheter for removing biological material by laser energy, the catheter having a proximal end and a distal end and comprising:
-
a unitary catheter core surrounded by a catheter sheath, said core and sheath defining a catheter wall; means defining a lumen extending through the catheter core, the lumen being open at the distal end of the catheter; means at the proximal end of the lumen for permitting fluid communication with the lumen and to permit a guide wire to be received within the lumen; a plurality of flexible optical conductors extending longitudinally of the catheter and within the catheter wall; a distal cap mounted on the distal end of the catheter and covering the distal end of the fibers, the distal cap having a distal surface defining an emission surface and providing an optical path from the distal end of the fibers to the emission surface; an aperture formed through the distal cap in communication with the catheter lumen; the flexibility of the catheter being varied along its length by means comprising; the core being formed from a plurality of articulated segments connected end to end and flexible joints; and the outer sheath being thin and flexible and being unconnected to the core so as not to restrict flexure of the core. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
-
-
26. A catheter for removing biological material by laser energy, the catheter having a proximal end and a distal end and comprising:
-
means defining a lumen extending through the catheter, the lumen being open at the distal end of the catheter, said means including a catheter wall; means at the proximal end of the lumen for permitting fluid communication with the lumen and to permit a guide wire to be received within the lumen; a plurality of flexible optical conductors extending longitudinally of the catheter and within the catheter wall; a distal cap mounted on the distal end of the catheter and covering the distal end of the fibers, the distal cap having a distal surface defining an emission surface and providing an optical path from the distal end of the fibers to the emission surface; an aperture formed through the distal cap in communication with the catheter lumen; the flexible optical conductors being contained in circumferentially spaced relation within the catheter wall; the distal cap including an annular portion which terminates in the emission surface; means for holding the distal faces of the conductor in optically transmissive relation to the cap to direct light from the conductors through the annular portion of the cap, the conductors being constructed and arranged to emit light in a divergent beam whereby the light emitted from each of the circumferentially spaced fibers may overlap increasingly in a distal direction; the distance of the emission surface of the cap from the distal ends of the fibers being such that the distance between the emission surface of the cap and the image plane in which the overlapping beams have diverge to define a peripheral envelope which is at least as great in diameter as the outer diameter of the catheter, said distance between the emission face and said image plane being not substantially greater than the diameter of the catheter. - View Dependent Claims (27)
-
-
30. A flexible catheter construction comprising:
-
an elongate one-piece, flexible core having a lumen extending therethrough, the core being formed from a plurality of articulated segments, the articulated segments being defined by a plurality of circumferentially formed notches, spaced longitudinally along the core, the circumferential notches defining smaller diameter connecting segments between the articulated segments; and a flexible outer sheath surrounding the core.
-
-
32. A catheter for delivering laser energy to biological material at a selected location internally of a patient comprising:
-
an elongate catheter body adapted to be placed internally of the patient, the catheter body having proximal and distal ends; optical fiber means carried by the catheter body and being constructed and arranged to direct laser light from the proximal end to the distal end and to emit a beam of laser light at the distal end of the catheter; and means at the distal end of the catheter for reflecting light reflected or radiated from the biological material thereby to reduce absorption of energy by the distal end of the catheter. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35, 36)
-
Specification