Methods and kits for volumetric distribution of pharmaceutical agents via the vascular adventitia and microcirculation
First Claim
1. An improved method for injecting a pharmaceutical agent into the adventitial tissue of a living host using a needle positioned from a lumen of a blood vessel, wherein the improvement comprises penetrating the needle radially outwardly from the blood vessel lumen through a blood vessel wall and an external elastic lamina (EEL) and into adventitial tissue surrounding the lumen, injecting a fluid through the needle, monitoring backpressure to confirm that a delivery aperture of the needle has penetrated through the blood vessel wall and beyond the external elastic lamina of the blood vessel and into the adventitial tissue, and observing the backpressure lower as the delivery aperture of the needle passes through the EEL and into the adventitial tissue, wherein such a lowering of the backpressure confirms entry of the delivery aperture of the needle into the adventitial tissue.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Methods and kits for delivering pharmaceutical agents to the adventitia and other regions outside the external elastic lamina (EEL) surrounding a blood vessel utilize a catheter having a needle. The needle is positioned in up to 5 mm beyond the EEL and delivers an amount of pharmaceutical agent sufficient to circumferentially permeate around the blood vessel and, in many cases, extend longitudinally and radially along the blood vessel. Confirmation that a delivery aperture of the needle lies beyond the EEL may be required before delivering the pharmaceutical agent.
124 Citations
22 Claims
- 1. An improved method for injecting a pharmaceutical agent into the adventitial tissue of a living host using a needle positioned from a lumen of a blood vessel, wherein the improvement comprises penetrating the needle radially outwardly from the blood vessel lumen through a blood vessel wall and an external elastic lamina (EEL) and into adventitial tissue surrounding the lumen, injecting a fluid through the needle, monitoring backpressure to confirm that a delivery aperture of the needle has penetrated through the blood vessel wall and beyond the external elastic lamina of the blood vessel and into the adventitial tissue, and observing the backpressure lower as the delivery aperture of the needle passes through the EEL and into the adventitial tissue, wherein such a lowering of the backpressure confirms entry of the delivery aperture of the needle into the adventitial tissue.
- 16. An improved method for injecting a pharmaceutical agent into the adventitial tissue of a living host using a needle positioned from a lumen of a blood vessel, wherein the method comprises positioning the needle by deploying the needle radially outwardly from the blood vessel lumen into a blood vessel wall, confirming that placement of a delivery aperture of the needle is beyond the external elastic lamina (EEL) of the blood vessel wall and is in the adventitial tissue by injecting a fluid through the needle following needle positioning and monitoring backpressure during injection, wherein placement of the delivery aperture is confirmed to be in adventitial tissue when the backpressure during injection is lower than the backpressure that would exist during injection when the delivery aperture placement is in the blood vessel wall.
Specification