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EP0335861B1 Expired / Lapsed EP ⏱️ 0.0 years remaining

Catheter with high speed moving working head for in-body surgical procedures

Assignee: DSM Biomedical Inc
•
Filing: 1986-12-02
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Granted: 1993-09-29
•
Expires: 2006-12-02
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Abstract

Abstract Flexible, small diameter catheter (20, 200) for effecting various surgical procedures, such as opening a restriction formed of an undesirable material, e.g., atherosclerotic plaque, in a lumen, e.g., an artery, of a living being, dilating a duct or tube, e.g., a fallopian tube, eustachian tube, bile duct, etc., in a living being and destroying a stone, e.g., kidney stone, gall stone, in the body of a living being. One embodiment of the catheter (20) includes a working head (24) having at least one non-sharp impacting surface (24A, 24B) arranged to be moved, e.g., rotated, at a high rate of speed by an associated drive means (22) within the catheter. The catheter with the moving working head is brought into engagement to effect the opening of the restriction by dilating the artery and/or removing undesirable material therefrom. The removal of undesirable material results from the impacting surface impacting the material of the restriction repeatedly. A fluid (27) is provided through the catheter to the working head and a portion is thrown radially outward. The fluid at the working head also flows in a vortex (31) to carry any particles broken off from the restriction back to the moving working head where they are impacted again and again to further reduce their size. Such action creates particles of sufficiently small size that they may be enabled to flow distally without significant deleterious effects to distally located tissue. One can effect the in situ valvulectomy of a section of vein within a living being using the catheters of this invention. In still another method, another embodiment of the catheter is used to disintegrate a stone, such as a kidney or gall stone, in the body of a living being. In another method, the catheters of this invention are used to stop spasm in a lumen in a living being.

Inventors

  • 👤 Kenneth Kensey
  • 👤 John Nash

Bibliographic Details

Application Number —
Jurisdiction EP
Data Source google_patents
Last Synchronized 2026-10-23 01:04
CPC Classifications
A; A61; A61B; A61B17/00; A61B17/32; A61B17/3205; A61B17/3207; A61B17/320758; A61B17/22; A61B2017/22097; A61B2017/320044

Claims Analysis

Total Claims: 21
Claim 1
Independent Claim 104 words
A catheter (20,100,200) for introduction into a lumen in a living being to treat a restriction or a constriction or cause dilation or to disintegrate a stone; the catheter (20,100,200) comprising an elongated flexible member having a longitudinal axis (25,102), a working head (24,100,202) located at the distal end thereof, and elongated flexible drive means (22) therefor extending through the catheter and arranged to cause high speed rotary movement of the working head (24,100,202) characterised in that the working head (24,100,202) comprises at least one, non-sharp, impacting surface (24A,24B,100A,100B,204A,204B), adapted to impact undesirable material or tissue within the lumen or to disintegrate the stone.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim 25 words
A catheter according to Claim 1 characterised in that the non-sharp impacting surface (24A,24B) is formed as a radiused edge of a cam surface (24C,24D).
Claim 3
Dependent Claim 27 words
A catheter according to Claim 1 or 2 characterised in that two cam surfaces (24C and 24D) are present and located between relieved surfaces (24E and 24F).
Claim 4
Dependent Claim 56 words
A catheter according to Claim 1, 2 or 3 characterised in that the non-sharp impacting surface (24A, 24B, 100A, 100B, 204A, 204B) has a radius of curvature at least as large as the amplitude of any tissue wave produced by movement of the head (24, 100, 202) with respect to the wall (26) of the lumen.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim 51 words
A catheter according to Claim 2, 3 or 4 characterised in that the height and profile of the cam surfaces (24C,24D) and the radiused impacting surfaces (24A, 24B) are selected so that the healthy wall of the lumen (26) will deform viscoelastically under applied load while non-viscoelastic material will be impacted.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim 30 words
A catheter according to Claim 5 characterised in that the impacting surfaces (24A, 24B) have a radius in the range of 0.025 mm (0.001 inch) to 0.127 mm (0.005 inch).
Claim 7
Dependent Claim 26 words
A catheter according to any preceding Claim characterised in that the head (24,100,202) is arranged to be rotated about the longitudinal axis (25,102) of the catheter.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim 32 words
A catheter according to Claim 7 characterised in that the working head (24,100,202) is arranged to be rotated about the longitudinal axis (25) of the catheter at about 10,000 to 200,000 rpm.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim 82 words
A catheter according to any preceding Claim including a jacket (30) and housing a drive axle (48) with a passageway for a stream of fluid (27) to pass to the head (24) in between, the fluid emerging adjacent the head (24) via exit ports (61) characterised in that the ports (61) are located adjacent the longitudinal axis (25) of the catheter so that the fluid (27) is broken into substreams (29) which are directed radially outwardly as the head (24) is rotated.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim 31 words
A catheter according to Claim 9 characterised in that the head (24) includes surface portions (24E,24F) arranged to expose or cover the exit ports (61) as the head (24) is rotated.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim 35 words
A catheter according to Claim 9 or 10 characterised in that the fluid (27) is supplied under a pressure (P) selected so that the exiting substreams (29) present a hemispherical pattern about the head (24).
Claim 12
Dependent Claim 46 words
A catheter according to any preceding Claim characterised in that the head (24) is rotated at sufficient speed to form a fluid path (31) in advance of the head (24) whereby particles of an impacted restriction (28) are drawn into the head (24) for repeated treatment.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim 17 words
A catheter according to Claim 12 characterised in that the fluid path (31) is a toroidal vortex.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim 62 words
A catheter (100) according to any preceding Claim characterised by a head (100) having a convex cam surface of non constant radius curvature bisected into two symmetrical portions by a bisecting plane to define a long ramp cam surface (100AL) and a short ramp surface (100AS) to cause a gentle cam action on a tissue wave generated in use of the head.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim 72 words
A catheter (200) according to Claim 1, 7, 8, 12, 13 characterised in that the head (204) has blades (204A, 204B) at the distal end of a rotary shaft (206) disposed and projecting slightly forward of a shroud (212) having windows (216) about the blades (204A, 204B), rotation of the shaft (206) being arranged to create a vortex (220,222) to draw fluid past the blades (204A,204B) and out of the windows (216).
Claim 16
Dependent Claim 17 words
A catheter according to Claim 15 characterised in that the blades (204A,204B) have rounded impact surfaces (224).
Claim 17
Dependent Claim 79 words
A catheter (200) according to any one of Claims 1,4,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,15 and 16 characterised in that the working head comprises a propeller-like impact member (204) having rounded impacting surfaces (224) spaced from the longitudinal axis (25) and in that a shroud (212) is radially spaced from and extends about the impacting member (204) so that the rounded impacting surfaces (224) project a short distance beyond the shroud (212) which protects the rounded impacting surfaces (224) from damaging surrounding body tissues.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim 49 words
A catheter according to Claim 17 or 18 characterised in that the shroud (212) has windows (216) about the working head (202) and rotation of a shaft (206) is arranged to create a vortex (220,222) to draw fluid past the impacting surfaces (224) and out through the windows (216).
Claim 19
Dependent Claim 32 words
A catheter according to any preceding Claim characterised in that the drive assembly (22) comprises an elongated drive cable (48) arranged to rotate within a spiral bearing (49) extending along the catheter.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim 25 words
A catheter according to Claim 20 characterised in that the spiral bearing (49) is formed of a wire having a generally rectangular cross sectional shape.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim 27 words
A catheter according to Claim 20 or 21 characterised in that the cable (48) and the bearing (49) have large engaging surfaces (48A,49A) respectively to reduce wear.

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