Catheter and catheter/guide wire device
First Claim
1. A catheter for use in combination with a guide wire for accessing a target si-e in an internal body tissue along a tortuous, small-vessel pathway within the tissue, said catheter comprisingan elongate tubular member having proximal and distal ends, and an inner lumen extending between these ends, with a diameter which is no greater than about 40 mils, said member including relatively flexible distal segment means at least about 5 cm long adapted for tracking the wire along such tortuous path, said distal segment means being composed of:
- (i) a flexible outer polymer tube, and(ii) flexible surface means embedded in the inner surface of the outer polymer tube providing a surface made up of disjoint, relatively non-deformable surface regions arranged to provide uninterrupted contact with a guide wire, as the distal segment of the catheter is advance over a looped or bent region of a guide wire, allowing the distal segment to be advanced, by remote axial force, over a looped smooth-surfaced guide wire whose loop diameter is substantially smaller than that of the smallest loop over which a flexible polymer tubing having a smooth inner wall surface can be advanced by remove axial force.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A catheter and catheter device for accessing a target site along a tortuous, small-vessel pathway. The catheter includes a flexible distal segment which is composed of a flexible outer tube and a low-friction surface structure embedded in the polymer tube and forming hard, disjoint surface regions. The surface structure allows the catheter to be advanced over sharp bends and small-diameter loops in a guide wire, in advancing the catheter along a small-vessel pathway.
241 Citations
17 Claims
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1. A catheter for use in combination with a guide wire for accessing a target si-e in an internal body tissue along a tortuous, small-vessel pathway within the tissue, said catheter comprising
an elongate tubular member having proximal and distal ends, and an inner lumen extending between these ends, with a diameter which is no greater than about 40 mils, said member including relatively flexible distal segment means at least about 5 cm long adapted for tracking the wire along such tortuous path, said distal segment means being composed of: -
(i) a flexible outer polymer tube, and (ii) flexible surface means embedded in the inner surface of the outer polymer tube providing a surface made up of disjoint, relatively non-deformable surface regions arranged to provide uninterrupted contact with a guide wire, as the distal segment of the catheter is advance over a looped or bent region of a guide wire, allowing the distal segment to be advanced, by remote axial force, over a looped smooth-surfaced guide wire whose loop diameter is substantially smaller than that of the smallest loop over which a flexible polymer tubing having a smooth inner wall surface can be advanced by remove axial force. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A catheter device for accessing a target site in an internal body tissue along a tortuous small-vessel pathway within the tissue, said device comprising
a guide wire having proximal and distal ends, and a wire diameter of no greater than about 30 mils, and a catheter comprising a tubular member having proximal and distal ends, and an inner lumen extending between these ends, with a diameter which is no greater than about 40 mils, said member including relatively flexible distal segment means at least about 5 cm long adapted for tracking the wire along such tortuous path, said distal segment means being composed of (i) a flexible outer polymer tube, and (ii) flexible surface means embedded within the inner surface of the outer polymer tube providing a low-inner friction surface made up of disjoint, relatively non-deformable surface regions which are arranged to provide uninterrupted surface contact with a guide wire, as the distal segment of the catheter is advanced over a looped or bent guide wire region, allowing the distal segment to be advanced, by remote axial force, over a looped smooth-surfaced guide wire whose loop diameter is substantially smaller than that of the smallest loop over which a flexible polymer tubing having a smooth inner wall surface can be advanced by remote axial force.
- 14. The device of claim Il, wherein the guide wire has a distal end region which is encased in a wire coil, and a smooth-walled intermediate region adjacent the distal end region which is in contact with the distal segment means in the catheter during a catheter placement operation.
Specification