Material removal catheter and method

• US 8,133,214 B2
• Filed: 10/07/2008
• Issued: 03/13/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/15/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: J. Christopher Flaherty, Motoya Hayase
• Original Assignee: J. Christopher Flaherty, Motoya Hayase
• Inventors: Hayase, Motoya, Flaherty, J. Christopher
• Primary Examiner(s): Zalukaeva, Tatyana
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hanrahan, Benedict L
• Application Number:
  US12/246,995
• Publication Number:
  US 20090036871A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,253 Days
• Field of Search: 604/19, 604/27, 604/28, 604/48, 604/73, 604/76, 604/93.01, 604/95.01, 604104-107, 604/128, 604/158, 604/264, 604/523, 604540-544, 606/7, 606 13- 17, 606/41, 606/46, 606/47, 606/167, 606/185, 607/101, 607/122
• US Class Current: 604/540
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 17/22 Implements for squeezing-off ulcers or the like on the inside of inner organs of the body; Implements for scraping-out cavities of body organs, e.g. bones; Calculus removers; Calculus smashing apparatus; Apparatus for removing obstructions in blood vessels, not otherwise provided for dilators A61M29/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/22079 with suction of debris
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2025/0063 having means, e.g. stylets, mandrils, rods or wires to reinforce or adjust temporarily the stiffness, column strength or pushability of catheters which are already inserted into the human body
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 25/0054 with regions for increasing flexibility
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 25/0069 Tip not integral with tube
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 25/0108 using radio-opaque or ultrasound markers
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 25/0155 with hydraulic or pneumatic means, e.g. balloons or inflatable compartments

Abstract

A catheter device and methods useable to extract material from a body conduit, e.g., a blood vessel, are provided. The catheter comprises a flexible catheter advanceable into the body conduit, an opening in a wall of the catheter in fluid communication with a material collection chamber, and a controllably arcuate segment near the distal tip of the catheter and the opening. The catheter may include a sliding member, located within a lumen of the catheter, used to move the material entering the catheter through the arcuate segment opening, into the material collection chamber and away from said opening. The catheter may include a single mechanism utilized to both generate a vacuum to cause material to enter the catheter at the arcuate segment opening and also cause the sliding member to travel, inside the catheter, moving material away from the opening and into the material collection chamber.

Claims

1. A transluminal method for removing material from a biological conduit, said method comprising the steps of:

providing a catheter device that comprises;

an elongated catheter shaft having a proximal end and a distal end; and

a controllably arcuate segment defining at least one opening in fluid communication with the proximal end;

percutaneously or surgically inserting and transluminally advancing the catheter into the biological conduit;

subsequently changing the controllably arcuate segment from a relatively straight shape to a bowed shape, the bowed shape being formed by arcing the arcuate segment in a first direction to create external convex and concave surfaces of the arcuate segment in the first direction where the proximal and distal ends of the catheter shaft remain aligned along a longitudinal axis of the catheter; and

subsequently applying suction to the at least one opening in the controllably arcuate segment.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the catheter includes a sliding member movable within the elongated catheter shaft and arcuate segment, and the method further comprises:

retracting the sliding member to move an occlusive material received through the opening into the material collection chamber away from the at least one opening and toward the proximal end of the elongated catheter shaft.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein movement of the sliding member past the arcuate segment allows the transition from the relatively straight shape to the bowed shape.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the controllably arcuate segment defines at least one opening in the form of a hole that is located at the convex portion of the controllably arcuate segment when the arcuate segment takes the bowed shape.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one opening is completely located in a portion of the arcuate segment that maintains a substantially constant cross section throughout the transition from the bowed shape to the relatively straight shape.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one opening is located near the distal end of the elongated catheter shaft.

7. The catheter of claim 1, wherein the controllably arcuate segment has a normally bowed bias, and the method includes positioning the sliding member within the controllably arcuate segment to cause the arcuate segment to take the relatively straight shape.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising, when the controllably arcuate segment takes the bowed shape, maintaining substantially straight portions of the elongated catheter shaft on both sides of the arcuate segment that are co-axial with a longitudinal axis.