Balloon attachment at catheter tip
First Claim
1. A medical catheter adapted for use within a body vessel with a guidewire, the medical catheter comprising:
- a guidewire shaft having a guidewire lumen which is adapted to receive the guidewire;
a sleeve attached to the guidewire shaft after extrusion of the guidewire shaft; and
an inflatable balloon having a distal tail which is thermally bonded to the sleeve to attach the distal tail of the balloon to the sleeve;
wherein the balloon includes a distal cone section which encircles both a portion of the quidewire shaft and a portion of the sleeve.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An intravascular medical catheter and method of manufacturing a medical catheter are provided herein. The medical catheter includes a guidewire shaft, a sleeve, and a balloon. The sleeve is attached to the guidewire shaft while a distal tail of the balloon is thermally bonded to the sleeve. Because of the sleeve, the distal tail of the balloon can be thermally bonded even if the guidewire shaft is made of a material which is thermally incompatible with the balloon. Thus, for example, a medical catheter can be made with an HDPE guidewire shaft and a balloon made of PEBA, PET, Polyurethane, or Nylon. The resulting medical catheter has a catheter tip which is durable, flexible, and has a relatively low profile for good tracking in the body vessel and good lesion crossing.
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Citations
26 Claims
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1. A medical catheter adapted for use within a body vessel with a guidewire, the medical catheter comprising:
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a guidewire shaft having a guidewire lumen which is adapted to receive the guidewire; a sleeve attached to the guidewire shaft after extrusion of the guidewire shaft; and an inflatable balloon having a distal tail which is thermally bonded to the sleeve to attach the distal tail of the balloon to the sleeve; wherein the balloon includes a distal cone section which encircles both a portion of the quidewire shaft and a portion of the sleeve. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A medical catheter adapted for use within a body vessel with a guidewire, the medical catheter comprising:
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a guidewire shaft defining a guidewire lumen which is adapted to receive the guidewire, the guidewire shaft including a guidewire shaft distal end; a catheter shaft defining an inflation lumen, the catheter shaft encircling a portion of the guidewire shaft; a tubular sleeve which encircles only a portion of the guidewire shaft, the tubular sleeve being sealingly affixed to the guidewire shaft, the tubular sleeve being made of a sleeve material; and an inflatable balloon made of a balloon material which is thermally compatible with sleeve material, the inflatable balloon having a proximal tail which is bonded and sealingly affixed to the catheter shaft and a distal tail which is thermally bonded and sealingly affixed to the tubular sleeve. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A medical catheter adapted for use within a body vessel with a guidewire, the medical catheter comprising:
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a guidewire shaft having a guidewire lumen which is adapted to receive the guidewire; a sleeve attached to the guidewire shaft after extrusion of the guidewire shaft, the shaft being made of a sleeve material; and an inflatable balloon made of a balloon material which is thermally compatible with the sleeve material, the inflatable balloon having a distal tail which is thermally bonded to the sleeve to attach the distal tail of the balloon to the sleeve.
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22. A method for manufacturing a medical catheter which is adapted to be inserted within a body vessel, the method comprising the steps of:
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providing a guidewire shaft having a guidewire lumen which is adapted to receive a guidewire; providing a catheter shaft which encircles a portion of the guidewire shaft; attaching a tubular sleeve to the guidewire shaft, the tubular sleeve encircling only a portion of the guidewire shaft; bonding a proximal tail of an inflatable balloon to the catheter shaft to sealingly affix the proximal tail to the catheter shaft; and thermally bonding a distal tail of the inflatable balloon to the tubular sleeve to sealingly affix the distal tail to the sleeve. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26)
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Specification