Stent delivery catheter system
First Claim
1. A stent delivery catheter system for placing a stent within a stenosis of a vessel in a human body, the system comprising:
- a flexible guide wire;
a balloon angioplasty catheter having a distal portion and having an inflatable balloon which has a proximal end and a distal end, the balloon being located at the distal portion of the balloon angioplasty catheter and a stent coaxially mounted around the balloon;
the balloon angioplasty catheter also having a flexible, gradually tapered, distal tip which has a central lumen through which the guide wire can be slideably moved; and
a sheath generally in the form of an elongated cylinder that is coaxially located around the balloon angioplasty catheter, the sheath having a central portion and a distal portion, the sheath being adapted to apply a push force to the distal portion of the balloon angioplasty catheter at a point proximal to the stent which push force is transmitted through the distal portion of the balloon angioplasty catheter which enables the distal tip to be pushed through the stenosis in the vessel of the human body.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention is a stent delivery catheter system for placing a stent within a stenosis in a vessel of a human body. The stent delivery catheter system utilizes a slideable sheath with a thin-walled distal portion that is situated coaxially over a stent that is placed onto a balloon located at the distal portion of a balloon angioplasty catheter. The distal end of a central portion of the sheath has an interior shoulder which is capable of exerting a distally directed push force on the balloon angioplasty catheter at a point that is just proximal to the stent. This push force is then transferred through the non-deployed stent to a gradually tapered, highly flexible, lubricity coated distal tip of the balloon angioplasty catheter. The structure of a continuous outer surface extending backward from the distal tip and onto the distal section of the sheath, plus the lubricity coating of the outer surfaces of the distal tip and the sheath, plus the increased stent delivery catheter system pushability provided by the sheath and the stent itself makes it possible for the stent delivery catheter system to be pushed through even very tight stenoses.
266 Citations
15 Claims
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1. A stent delivery catheter system for placing a stent within a stenosis of a vessel in a human body, the system comprising:
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a flexible guide wire; a balloon angioplasty catheter having a distal portion and having an inflatable balloon which has a proximal end and a distal end, the balloon being located at the distal portion of the balloon angioplasty catheter and a stent coaxially mounted around the balloon;
the balloon angioplasty catheter also having a flexible, gradually tapered, distal tip which has a central lumen through which the guide wire can be slideably moved; anda sheath generally in the form of an elongated cylinder that is coaxially located around the balloon angioplasty catheter, the sheath having a central portion and a distal portion, the sheath being adapted to apply a push force to the distal portion of the balloon angioplasty catheter at a point proximal to the stent which push force is transmitted through the distal portion of the balloon angioplasty catheter which enables the distal tip to be pushed through the stenosis in the vessel of the human body. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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Specification