Apparatus and method for retaining a catheter in a blood vessel in a fixed position

• US 5,509,900 A
• Filed: 10/15/1993
• Issued: 04/23/1996
• Est. Priority Date: 03/02/1992
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Kirkman, Thomas R.
• Original Assignee: Kirkman, Thomas R.
• Inventors: Kirkman, Thomas R.
• Primary Examiner(s): MCDERMOTT, CORRINE MARIE
• Application Number:
  US08/137,619
• Time in Patent Office: 921 Days
• Field of Search: 604/104-106, 604/107, 604/160, 604/174, 604/175, 606/198-200, 606/108, 606/191
• US Class Current: 604/104
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/3484 Anchoring means, e.g. spreading-out umbrella-like structure
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/3488 Fixation to inner organ or inner body tissue
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2025/0057 Catheters delivering medicament other than through a conventional lumen, e.g. porous walls or hydrogel coatings
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 25/0068 Static characteristics of the catheter tip, e.g. shape, atraumatic tip, curved tip or tip structure
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 25/0071 Multiple separate lumens multiple separate lumens throughout the catheter A61M25/0026
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 25/0074 Dynamic characteristics of the catheter tip, e.g. openable, closable, expandable or deformable
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 25/0082 Catheter tip comprising a tool
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 25/04 in the body, e.g. expansible A61M25/10, A61M16/0488 take precedence

Abstract

A method and apparatus for retaining a catheter tip in a fixed position within a blood flow and preventing it from contacting a blood vessel wall. The apparatus includes a tip retainer at the distal end of the catheter that anchors the tip of the catheter within the blood vessel. The catheter tip is retained within the blood vessel spaced from the wall to ensure that it does not contact the wall of the blood vessel. This reduces damage to the blood vessel caused by chronic movement and contact between the catheter tip and the wall of the blood vessel. In one embodiment, the tip retainer includes a prong that penetrates the wall of the blood vessel, thus preventing the catheter tip from moving longitudinally within the blood vessel. In alternative embodiments, the tip retainer contacts the wall but does not penetrate the wall.

Claims

1. A catheter adapted for insertion into a blood vessel having blood flowing therethrough, comprising:

a catheter having a proximal end, a distal end, a tip at the distal end, a guideway extending from the proximal end to the distal end of the catheter and an internal passageway for permitting fluid to pass through the catheter;

a tip positioning means located at a distal end of the catheter for positioning the distal end of the catheter within the blood flow to maintain the tip of the catheter in a spaced relationship from the wall of the blood vessel and prevent the tip of the catheter from repeatedly contacting the wall of the blood vessel, but without substantially obstructing the fluid flow of blood through the blood vessel; and

withdrawal means for withdrawing the positioning means towards the catheter tip, the withdrawing means including at least one control member within the guideway running from the proximal end to the distal end of the catheter, the positioning means being extendible and retractable by manipulation of the withdrawal means at the proximal end of the catheter for permitting an operator to withdraw or deploy the positioning means.

2. A catheter adapted for insertion into a blood vessel having blood flowing therethrough, comprising:

a catheter having an internal passageway for permitting fluids to pass through the catheter, the catheter having a distal end and a tip; and

a tip stabilizing means located at the distal end of the catheter for anchoring the distal end of the catheter within the blood flow to maintain the tip of the catheter in a space relationship from a blood vessel wall and prevent the tip of the catheter from repeatedly contacting a wall of the blood vessel without substantially obstructing fluid flow of blood through the blood vessel, the stabilizing means including a plurality of looped wires that extend a selected angle from the catheter tip and have a preselected resilient spring bias to exert force on the blood vessel wall to maintain the catheter tip a fixed distance from the wall such that catheter failure due to stenosis or thrombosis at the catheter distal end is reduced.

3. A catheter adapted for insertion into a blood vessel having blood flowing therethrough, comprising:

a catheter having a distal end, a tip at the distal end, and an internal passageway for permitting fluid to pass through the catheter; and

a tip positioning means located at a distal end of the catheter for positioning the distal end of the catheter within the blood flow to maintain the tip of the catheter in a spaced relationship from the wall of the blood vessel and prevent the tip of the catheter from repeatedly contacting the wall of the blood vessel, but without substantially obstructing the fluid flow of blood through the blood vessel, the tip positioning means including a loop member connected to the catheter tip and having at least two portions of the loop in contact with a blood vessel wall, the loop member being compressed by the blood vessel wall and exerting a spring force outward, against the blood vessel wall to maintain the catheter tip in a spaced relationship from the blood vessel wall such that catheter failure due to stenosis or thrombosis at the catheter distal end is reduced.

4. The catheter according to claim 3 wherein said tip positioning means is a single loop member positioned near the distal end of the catheter and extending forward of the catheter tip.

5. The catheter according to claim 4 wherein the size of the loop is selected such that the diameter of the loop is larger than the diameter of the blood vessel into which the catheter is to be inserted.

6. The catheter according to claim 3 in which the size of the loop is selected such that the diameter of the loop is at least twice as long as the diameter of a blood vessel that has a junction with the blood vessel into which the catheter is placed in the same general region into which the catheter tip is to be positioned.

7. The catheter according to claim 3 in which the loop includes a lumen and further including a plurality of apertures in the lumen for permitting the delivery of medication directly from the tip positioning loop to the blood vessel wall.

8. A catheter adapted for insertion into a blood vessel having blood flowing therethrough, comprising:

a catheter having a distal end, a proximal end, a tip, and an internal passageway for permitting fluids to pass through the catheter; and

a tip immobilizing means located at the distal end of the catheter for anchoring the distal end of the catheter within the blood flow, the tip immobilizing means including a plurality of wires, each wire having a tip and a loop at the tip portion of the respective wires that extend from the catheter tip to maintain the tip of the catheter in a spaced relationship frown blood vessel wall and prevent the tip of the catheter from contacting a wall of the blood vessel without substantially obstructing fluid flow of the blood through the blood vessel, such that catheter failure due to stenosis or thrombosis of the catheter distal end is reduced.

9. A catheter adapted for insertion into a blood vessel having blood flowing therethrough, comprising:

a catheter having a distal end, a tip at the distal end, and an internal passageway for permitting fluid to pass through the catheter; and

a tip retainer located at the distal end of the catheter for retaining the distal end of the catheter within the blood flow, the tip retainer including a loop member connected at the catheter tip and extending from the catheter tip forward and having at least two portions of the loop in contact with the blood vessel wall, the loop member being compressed by the blood vessel wall and exerting a spring force outward, against the blood vessel wall to maintain the tip of the catheter in a spaced relationship from the blood vessel wall, the loop being composed of a flexible material that has a smaller diameter than the blood vessel such that the loop does not substantially obstruct the fluid flow of blood to the blood vessel and the catheter failure due to stenosis or thrombosis at the catheter distal end is reduced.

10. A catheter adapted for insertion into a blood vessel, comprising:

a catheter having a lumen therein that permits fluids to pass through said catheter, the catheter having a tip portion and a proximal portion spaced from the tip portion;

a tip retainer assembly extending from the tip portion of the catheter; and

a plurality of wall contact members, each of which contacts the blood vessel wall when the catheter is within the blood vessel, the wall contact members being a part of the tip retainer assembly, each of the wall contact members including a loop extending from the catheter tip portion and positioned for providing a large surface area for contacting the blood vessel wall for restricting movement of the tip of the catheter within the blood vessel without substantially obstructing fluid flow of blood through the blood vessel.

11. The catheter according to claim 10 wherein said plurality of wall contact members includes at least three wall contact members, each of said wall contact members being spaced from each other.

12. A catheter adapted for insertion into a blood vessel having blood flowing therethrough, comprising:

a catheter having a distal end, a tip at the distal end, and an internal passageway for permitting fluid to pass through the catheter; and

a tip positioning means located at the distal end of the catheter for positioning the distal end of the catheter within the blood flow to maintain the tip of the catheter in a spaced relationship from a wall of the blood vessel and to prevent the tip of the catheter from contacting the wall of the blood vessel, but without substantially obstructing the fluid flow of the blood through the blood vessel, the tip positioning means including a prong adapted to penetrate the blood vessel wall and extend into said wall for a selected distance to anchor the catheter tip at a fixed longitudinal position with respect to the blood vessel, such that catheter failure due to stenosis or thrombosis at the catheter distal end is reduced.

13. The apparatus according to claim 12, further including a loop at the base of the prong to prevent the prong from extending more than a selected distance into the blood vessel wall.

14. A catheter adapted for insertion into a blood vessel, comprising:

a catheter having a lumen therein that permits fluids to pass through said catheter, the catheter having a tip portion and a proximal portion spaced from the tip portion;

a tip retainer assembly attached to the tip portion of the catheter; and

a plurality of wall contact members, each of which contacts a blood vessel wall when the catheter is within a blood vessel, the wall contact members being a part of the tip retainer assembly, the wall contact members including a wall contact portion for contacting the blood vessel wall at a selected location and remaining in contact with the blood vessel wall for an extended time, the wall contact members including a plurality of fletchings having a distal portion, the fletchings being attached to the catheter tip, the fletching being positioned on the catheter at a cant to provide a spiral member extending along the catheter tip portion, the fletchings maintaining the catheter tip a space distance from the blood vessel wall and preventing the catheter tip from contacting the blood vessel to prevent damage to the blood vessel wall by repeated contact between the catheter tip and the blood vessel wall.

15. A catheter adapted for insertion into a blood vessel having blood flowing therethrough, comprising:

a catheter having a distal end, a proximal end, a tip and an internal passageway for permitting fluid to pass through the catheter; and

a tip immobilizing means located at the distal end of the catheter for anchoring the distal end of the catheter within the blood flow to maintain the tip of the catheter in space relationship from a blood vessel wall and prevent the tip of the catheter from contacting the wall of the blood vessel without substantially obstructing fluid flow of the blood through the blood vessel, the tip immobilizing means including a plurality of fletchings that are attached to the catheter tip and extend from the catheter tip to a position spaced from the catheter tip, said fletchings being an integral pail of said catheter and being formed from the same material as said catheter and being a unitary, member with said catheter.

16. The apparatus according to claim 15 wherein said fletching includes a base portion and a tip portion and the fletching is broader at the base portion than at the tip portion and tapers gradually inward from the base portion towards the tip portion to provide a relatively thin, pliable tip portion.

17. The method of securing a tip of a catheter at a selected location in a blood vessel, the catheter including a guideway and a control assembly extending within the guideway, the control assembly including a control member comprising:

inserting the catheter tip within a blood vessel, the catheter tip having a tip retainer assembly adjacent the tip in a retracted position, the tip retainer assembly having a distal end and being connected to the control assembly;

maneuvering the catheter tip to a selected location within the blood vessel;

manipulating the control assembly to deploy the tip retainer assembly into abutting contact with the blood vessel wall such that the tip retainer assembly contacts the blood vessel wall with sufficient force to maintain the catheter tip anchored at a preselected location and holds the catheter tip in a spaced relationship from the blood vessel wall to prevent the catheter tip from repeatedly contacting the blood vessel wall, the manipulating of the control assembly including the step of extending the control member by pushing it forward to cause the tip retainer to form a loop having a larger diameter than the diameter of the blood vessel in which the catheter is positioned, the control member being extended to create a loop sufficiently large that it contacts the blood vessel wall at two distinct locations to maintain the catheter tip in a spaced relationship from the blood vessel wall.

18. A method of securing a tip of a catheter at a selected location in a blood vessel, the catheter tip including a tip retainer assembly having a plurality of separate, distinct members and further including a control assembly having a plurality of control members, comprising:

inserting the catheter tip within a blood vessel, the catheter tip having the tip retainer assembly being adjacent the tip in a retracted position, the tip retainer assembly having a distal end and being connected to the control assembly;

maneuvering the catheter tip to a selected location within the blood vessel; and

manipulating the control assembly of the tip retainer assembly to deploy the plurality of separate, distinct members of the tip retainer assembly into abutting contact with the blood vessel wall by causing the tip retainer members to extend outward into abutting contact with the blood vessel wall under control of the respective control members and contacting the blood vessel wall with sufficient force to maintain the catheter tip anchored at a preselected location and in a spaced relationship from the blood vessel wall to prevent the catheter tip from repeatedly contacting the blood vessel wall without substantially obstructing the fluid flow of blood through the blood vessel.