Conduit for interventional procedures

Abstract

A conduit, such as an introducer sheath, catheter, or guide catheter, incorporating two or more separate lumens to prevent the entanglement of guidewires located at least partially within the conduit. The lumens are separated by at least one disruptable barrier that allows multiple lumens to be converted into fewer lumens prior to or as a device is advanced through the introducer sheath.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] Novel conduits, such as guide catheters and catheter introducer sheaths, for use in interventional procedures, particularly introducer sheaths adapted for use with multiple guidewires. [0003] 2. Description of Related Art [0004] It is often desirable to use multiple guidewires in various endovascular procedures. For example when deploying stent graft aneurismal repair devices within branched vasculature, a first guidewire would be used to access the main artery while second and / or third guidewires would access the side branched arteries. Stent grafts with multiple guidewire ports would then be advanced along the respective guidewires and deployed at the desired sites. A common problem associated with the use of multiple guidewires is the “crossing” or entanglement of the guidewires in the vasculature proximal to the treatment site. Crossed and entangled guidewires prohibit or severely restrict the ability to advance...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0006] An aspect of the invention comprises an introducer sheath that incorporates at least two separate lumens to prevent the entanglement of at least two guidewires. The lumens are separated by disruptable barrier(s) that allows multiple lumens to be converted into fewer lumens. The barrier(s) forms at least two separate lumens along at least a portion of the length of the sheath. Guidewires and guide catheters can be advanced through the separate lumens to a desired treatment site. The separated lumens prevent the guidewires from crossing and becoming entangled. In an aspect of the invention, an endovascular device having multiple guidewire lumens and ports can then be “back-loaded” onto the proximal ends of the guidewires. As the multi-lumen device is advanced through the introducer sheath, the distruptable barrier tears or separates to form fewer lumens, thus allowing the multi-lumen device to pass while maintaining guidewire separation. An operational procedure using an introducer sheath of the present invention allows the user to initially place all required guidewires into the target sites. After all required guidwires are in place, the interventional device or devices can then be advanced along the guidewires.

Problems solved by technology

A common problem associated with the use of multiple guidewires is the “crossing” or entanglement of the guidewires in the vasculature proximal to the treatment site.

Crossed and entangled guidewires prohibit or severely restrict the ability to advance a device with multiple guidewire ports to the treatment site.

An introducer catheter or sheath is often employed to protect the vasculature from possible damage due to the advancement of the guidewires, catheters and subsequent devices but such use does not eliminate the occurrence of crossed guidewires.

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