Thrombectomy method and apparatus
First Claim
1. A thrombectomy system for dissolving a soft, fibrinous obstruction, such as a recently formed thrombus or blood clot, within a patient'"'"'s vascular system comprising:
- a brush having bristles sufficiently dimensioned and stiff to separate the fibrin of the soft obstruction as the bristles are passed therethrough;
means for introducing the brush into contact with the soft obstruction and for repetitively passing the bristles of the brush through the soft obstruction so as to expose the fibrin of the obstruction; and
means for introducing a dissolving agent into contact with the soft obstruction as the fibrin thereof are exposed by the bristles of the brush.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A thrombectomy method and apparatus for dissolving a soft fibrinous obstruction, such as a recently formed thrombus, within a patient'"'"'s vascular system, either in a vessel or in a prosthetic implant, employing a rotating brush for separating and mixing the fibrin of the thrombus while a dissolving agent, e.g. streptokinase or urokinase, is introduced and mixed in and applied to the separated fibrin. The brush is formed of soft, flexible bristles that extend outward from the distal end of an elongated, flexible, rotatable drive shaft having a drive motor assembly attached at its proximal end. In use, an introducer catheter is introduced through a patient'"'"'s blood vessels until the distal end opening is positioned adjacent the thrombus. The brush is passed through the introducer lumen and out the distal opening to place the brush bristles in contact with the thrombus. The dissolving agent is introduced into the region of rotation of the brush either through the introducer catheter lumen or a drive shaft lumen for dissolving the soft thrombus as it is mixed by the bristles. The bristles are sufficiently resilient and dimensioned for ease of introduction and mixing into the fibrin of the soft thrombus, while not damaging the vessel wall. Optionally, a balloon catheter or a mesh basket may be coaxially introduced through the drive shaft lumen and placed downstream to restrain fragments and to allow the dissolving agent to complete the dissolution thereof.
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Citations
37 Claims
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1. A thrombectomy system for dissolving a soft, fibrinous obstruction, such as a recently formed thrombus or blood clot, within a patient'"'"'s vascular system comprising:
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a brush having bristles sufficiently dimensioned and stiff to separate the fibrin of the soft obstruction as the bristles are passed therethrough; means for introducing the brush into contact with the soft obstruction and for repetitively passing the bristles of the brush through the soft obstruction so as to expose the fibrin of the obstruction; and means for introducing a dissolving agent into contact with the soft obstruction as the fibrin thereof are exposed by the bristles of the brush. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A thrombectomy system for dissolving a soft fibrinous obstruction, such as a recently formed thrombus or blood clot, from a patient'"'"'s vascular system comprising:
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an elongated introducer catheter having a proximal and a distal end and an introducer lumen extending therebetween, said introducer catheter adapted to be introduced and advanced through a patient'"'"'s blood vessels until the distal end opening is positioned adjacent a soft fibrinous obstruction; an elongated, flexible, rotatable drive shaft having a proximal and a distal end portion and adapted to be passed through said introducer lumen; a brush formed at the distal end portion of said drive shaft having soft, flexible bristles extending outward from said distal end portion a predetermined distance, said bristles being sufficiently resilient and dimensioned for enabling compression and passage of the brush through said introducer lumen and out of and back into said distal end opening of said introducer lumen; means for rotating said drive shaft at said proximal end thereof, whereby said brush may be rotated when advanced out of said distal end opening of said introducer lumen and into contact with a soft obstruction within the patient'"'"'s blood vessel; and means for introducing a dissolving agent in the region of rotation of said brush for dissolving the soft obstruction as it is contacted by said bristles. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A thrombectomy method for dissolving a soft, recently formed fibrinous obstruction, such as a thrombus or blood clot, within a patient'"'"'s vascular system comprising the steps of:
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introducing a mixing brush though the patient'"'"'s vascular system into contact with the soft fibrinous obstruction; passing bristles of the mixing brush through the soft fibrinous obstruction to effect the separation and exposure of the fibrin thereof; and introducing a dissolving agent into the soft fibrinous obstruction as the bristles of the mixing brush are passed therethrough for dissolving the fibrin of the obstruction as the fibrin is separated and exposed to the dissolving agent. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. A thrombectomy method for dissolving a soft, recently formed, fibrinous obstruction, such as a thrombus or blood clot, within a patient'"'"'s vascular system comprising the steps of:
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introducing and advancing an elongated, introducer catheter having a proximal and a distal end and an introducer lumen extending therebetween through a patient'"'"'s vascular system until the distal end is positioned adjacent a soft fibrinous obstruction; passing an elongated, flexible, rotatable drive shaft, having a proximal end portion and a distal end portion having a brush attached thereto, the brush having soft, flexible bristles extending outward from said distal end portion a predetermined distance, said bristles being sufficiently resilient and dimensioned for enabling compression and passage of the brush through said introducer lumen until said brush bristles are extended out of said distal end of said introducer lumen and into contact with a soft fibrinous obstruction; rotating said drive shaft at said proximal end thereof, whereby the bristles of said brush are rotated through the fibrin of said obstruction to separate the fibrin; and introducing a dissolving agent in the region of rotation of said brush for dissolving the fibrin of the soft obstruction as they are separated by said rotating bristles. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
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Specification