Embolus delivery system and method
First Claim
1. A method of passing an embolus into and through the lumen of a catheter to reach a destination outside of the catheter, the method comprising the steps ofproviding a catheter formed to include an inlet end, an outlet end, and a lumen connecting the inlet to the outlet,positioning an embolus outside of the catheter in a hollow cartridge coupled to the lumen of the catheter at the inlet end, andconducting a stream of pressurized fluid through the hollow cartridge to discharge the embolus from the cartridge into the lumen of the catheter through said inlet end and propel the embolus through the lumen so that the embolus exits at the outlet of the catheter and reaches the destination outside of the catheter.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus are provided for passing an embolus into and through the lumen of a catheter to reach a destination in a blood vessel or the like. Once the embolus emerges from the catheter, it lodges in place at the destination in the blood vessel to allow formation of a vessel-occluding blood clot around the embolus.
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Citations
30 Claims
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1. A method of passing an embolus into and through the lumen of a catheter to reach a destination outside of the catheter, the method comprising the steps of
providing a catheter formed to include an inlet end, an outlet end, and a lumen connecting the inlet to the outlet, positioning an embolus outside of the catheter in a hollow cartridge coupled to the lumen of the catheter at the inlet end, and conducting a stream of pressurized fluid through the hollow cartridge to discharge the embolus from the cartridge into the lumen of the catheter through said inlet end and propel the embolus through the lumen so that the embolus exits at the outlet of the catheter and reaches the destination outside of the catheter.
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9. A method of delivering an embolus to a destination, the method comprising the steps of
inserting a catheter into a body, the catheter being formed to include an inlet end , an outlet end, and a lumen connecting the inlet end to the outlet end, guiding the catheter through the body to aim the outlet end of the catheter toward the destination, supporting an embolus outside of the lumen in an initial position communicating with the inlet end formed in the catheter, providing a stream of pressurized fluid, and using the stream of pressurized fluid to apply at least a predetermined amount of work to the embolus to move the embolus from its initial position outside of the lumen through the catheter inlet end, lumen, and outlet end to its destination.
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20. A method of delivering an embolus to a destination in a selected vessel, the method comprising the steps of
inserting a catheter into a body, the catheter being formed to include an inlet end, an outlet end, and a lumen connecting the inlet end to the outlet end, guiding the catheter through the body to aim the outlet end of the catheter into the selected vessel, providing an embolus outside of the catheter, providing a stream of pressurized fluid, and using the stream of pressurized fluid to propel the embolus into and through the lumen through said inlet end and out said outlet end to its destination in a selected vessel to occlude the vessel.
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22. A method of delivering an embolus to a selected place in a vessel, the method comprising the steps of
inserting an outer catheter into a body, the outer catheter being formed to include a lumen having an inlet end and an outlet end, guiding the outer catheter through the body to aim the outlet end of the lumen into a passageway of a selected vessel, inserting an inner catheter into the lumen of the outer catheter, the inner catheter being formed to include an embolus-conducting lumen having an embolus-admitting inlet end and an embolus-discharging outlet end, moving the inner catheter in the lumen of the outer catheter to position the embolus-discharging outlet end at about the outlet end of the outer catheter so that an embolus discharged from the embolus-conducting lumen is inserted into the selected vessel, connecting a hollow cartridge containing an embolus to the embolus-admitting inlet end of the inner catheter, and using a fluid to flush the embolus out of the hollow cartridge and move the embolus into and through the embolus-conducting lumen through said embolus admitting and embolus discharging ends to reach the selected place in the vessel to occlude the vessel.
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27. An embolus delivery system, comprising
a catheter having a lumen, the lumen having a inlet end, a cartridge containing an embolus, the cartridge including means for coupling to the catheter to the inlet end of the lumen so that the embolus can pass from the cartridge through the inlet end and into the catheter, and means for introducing fluid into the cartridge to discharge the embolus from the cartridge into the lumen of the catheter through said inlet end.
Specification