Catheters with improved transition
First Claim
1. A stent delivery system, comprising:
- a catheter having an elongated shaft with proximal and distal ends and an inner lumen extending therein, the catheter having more than one portion with different stiffness values, each portion comprising components that gradually transition the stiffness of that portion to an adjacent portion;
an enlargeable member mounted on a distal shaft section proximal to the distal end which is configured for supporting a deployable prosthetic device on a receiving portion thereon, which has an interior in fluid communication with the inner lumen; and
the shaft including a tubular member extending through the interior of the enlargeable member, and including at least one portion which is stiffer than a portion immediately proximal to the at least one portion of the shaft, wherein the immediately proximal portion of the shaft includes components that gradually transition the stiffness of the immediately proximal portion to the at least one portion of the shaft.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention is directed to a balloon catheter, such as a dilatation catheter and a stent delivery catheter with improved stiffness transition and specifically with no sudden changes in stiffness along the catheter length. The balloon catheters of the present invention may be used alone or be mounted with a stent in. The balloon catheters of the present invention may be used in peripheral, coronary, or neurovascular applications. The present catheter has more than one portion with different bending stiffness values, each portion comprising of components that gradually transition the bending stiffness of that portion to an adjacent portion, thus reducing the differential in bending stiffness in moving from one region to another, when the catheter is used alone or in combination with a stent in a stent delivery system.
217 Citations
33 Claims
-
1. A stent delivery system, comprising:
-
a catheter having an elongated shaft with proximal and distal ends and an inner lumen extending therein, the catheter having more than one portion with different stiffness values, each portion comprising components that gradually transition the stiffness of that portion to an adjacent portion;
an enlargeable member mounted on a distal shaft section proximal to the distal end which is configured for supporting a deployable prosthetic device on a receiving portion thereon, which has an interior in fluid communication with the inner lumen; and
the shaft including a tubular member extending through the interior of the enlargeable member, and including at least one portion which is stiffer than a portion immediately proximal to the at least one portion of the shaft, wherein the immediately proximal portion of the shaft includes components that gradually transition the stiffness of the immediately proximal portion to the at least one portion of the shaft. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
-
-
29. A stent delivery system, comprising:
-
a catheter having an elongated shaft with proximal and distal ends and an inner lumen extending therein, the catheter having more than one portion with different stiffness values, each portion comprising components that gradually transition the stiffness of that portion to an adjacent portion;
an enlargeable member mounted on a distal shaft section proximal to the distal end of the shaft, which is configured for supporting a deployable prosthetic device on a receiving portion thereon, and which has a proximal end, a distal end, and an interior in fluid communication with the inner lumen; and
the shaft including a tubular member extending through the interior of the enlargeable member, and wherein the more than one portions having different stiffness values are disposed longitudinally along a first section of the catheter between the first and second points, the first and second points having the same transverse location as the enlargeable member proximal end and distal ends, respectively.
-
-
30. A stent delivery system, comprising:
-
a catheter having an elongated shaft with proximal and distal ends and an inner lumen extending therein, the catheter having more than one portion with different stiffness values, each portion comprising of components that gradually transition the stiffness of that portion to an adjacent portion, wherein the stiffness ratio between any two adjacent portions is at least 0.3;
an enlargeable member mounted on a distal shaft section proximal to the distal end which is configured for supporting a deployable prosthetic device on a receiving portion thereon, which has an interior in fluid communication with the inner lumen; and
the shaft including a tubular member extending through the interior of the enlargeable member.
-
-
31. A stent delivery system, comprising:
-
a catheter having an elongated shaft with proximal and distal ends and an inner lumen extending therein, the catheter shaft having an outer tubular member and an inner tubular member, the outer tubular member has multiple sections having a decrease in stiffness in the distal direction, the sections comprising a proximal, an intermediate, and a distal outer member, the proximal, intermediate, and distal outer members have a lower stiffness value than the section immediately proximal thereto, so that the catheter has more than one portion with different stiffness values, each portion comprising components that gradually transition the stiffness of that portion to an adjacent portion;
an enlargeable member mounted on a distal shaft section proximal to the distal end which is configured for supporting a deployable prosthetic device on a receiving portion thereon, which has an interior in fluid communication with the inner lumen; and
the shaft inner tubular member extends through the interior of the enlargeable member. - View Dependent Claims (32)
-
-
33. A stent delivery system, comprising:
-
a catheter having an elongated shaft with proximal and distal ends and an inner lumen extending therein, the catheter having more than one portion with different stiffness values, each portion comprising of components that gradually transition the stiffness of that portion to an adjacent portion;
an enlargeable member mounted on a distal shaft section proximal to the distal end which is configured for supporting a deployable prosthetic device on a receiving portion thereon, which has an interior in fluid communication with the inner lumen;
the shaft including a tubular member extending through the interior of the enlargeable member;
a deployable member disposed on the enlargeable member receiving portion; and
a retractable sheath which is disposed over at least a portion of the catheter shaft including the deployable member, and which has a variable stiffness to minimize kinking of the catheter near or at proximal and distal ends of the deployable member.
-
Specification