136 results about "Atherectomy" patented technology

Devices, methods, kits, and methods remove obstructive material from the vasculature and other body lumens. Expansible baskets may be used as cooperating radially expansible shearing members. Helically oriented struts of each basket may wind in a uniform circumferential direction. The struts can be independently flexible, allowing the shearing members to flex axially together. The inner basket may be rotatably driven and may use an axial pump extending proximally from the shearing members and/or a distal penetrator for advancing into an occlusion which inhibits guidewire access. The struts may slide substantially continuously across each other, and may be sufficiently aggressive for highly effective thrombectomy. A rotationally static and axially flexible outer basket may provide a safe, limited atherectomy treatment.

An atherectomy catheter includes a catheter body having a blade assembly at its distal end. The blade assembly includes first blade and a second blade, where each blade has an opposed cutting edge. At least one of the cutting edges will have a penetrating point formed thereon. Preferably, both edges will have at least one aligned cutting point, more preferably at least two or more aligned cutting points. When the blades are actuated to shear tissue therebetween, the cutting points act to penetrate and capture the material to be sheared.

A system for inducing cardioplegic arrest and performing an endovascular procedure within the heart or blood vessels of a patient. An endoaortic partitioning catheter has an inflatable balloon which occludes the ascending aorta when inflated. Cardioplegic fluid may be infused through a lumen of the endoaortic partitioning catheter to stop the heart while the patient's circulatory system is supported on cardiopulmonary bypass. One or more endovascular devices are introduced through an internal lumen of the endoaortic partitioning catheter to perform a diagnostic or therapeutic endovascular procedure within the heart or blood vessels of the patient. Surgical procedures such as coronary artery bypass surgery or heart valve replacement may be performed in conjunction with the endovascular procedure while the heart is stopped. Embodiments of the system are described for performing: fiberoptic angioscopy of structures within the heart and its blood vessels, valvuloplasty for correction of valvular stenosis in the aortic or mitral valve of the heart, angioplasty for therapeutic dilatation of coronary artery stenoses, coronary stenting for dilatation and stenting of coronary artery stenoses, atherectomy or endarterectomy for removal of atheromatous material from within coronary artery stenoses, intravascular ultrasonic imaging for observation of structures and diagnosis of disease conditions within the heart and its associated blood vessels, fiberoptic laser angioplasty for removal of atheromatous material from within coronary artery stenoses, transmyocardial revascularization using a side-firing fiberoptic laser catheter from within the chambers of the heart, and electrophysiological mapping and ablation for diagnosing and treating electrophysiological conditions of the heart.

A system and method for opening a lumen in an occluded blood vessel, e.g., a coronary bypass graft, of a living being. The system comprises an atherectomy catheter having a working head, e.g., a rotary impacting impeller, and a debris extraction sub-system. The atherectomy catheter is located within a guide catheter. The working head is arranged to operate on, e.g., impact, the occlusive material in the occluded vessel to open a lumen therein, whereupon some debris may be produced. The debris extraction sub-system introduces an infusate liquid at a first flow rate adjacent the working head and withdraws that liquid and some blood at a second and higher flow rate, through the guide catheter to create a differential flow adjacent the working head, whereupon the debris is withdrawn in the infusate liquid and blood for collection outside the being's body. The introduction of the infusate liquid may also be used to establish an unbalanced flow adjacent the working head to enable the atherectomy catheter to be steered hydrodynamically. A guide wire having an inflatable balloon on its distal end may be used with the atherectomy catheter to block the flow of debris distally, while enabling distal tissues to be perfused with an oxygenating liquid. At least one flow control port may be provided in the guide catheter to prevent collapse of the vessel being revascularized. A cradle is provided to fix the guide catheter and guide wire in position within the body of the being while enabling the atherectomy catheter to be advanced along the guide wire and through the guide catheter.

Systems and methods of increasing blood flow in a blood vessel with ultraluminal plaque. One disclosed method oncludes inserting an imaging guidewire into the blood vessel to the inraluminal plaque, propelling a catheter with a wokring head over the guidewire towards the distal end of the guidewire, scanning with the imaging guidewire to generate a cross-section image, radially positioning the catheter using a positioning element, monitoring the image to ascertain that the working head is properly positioned and operating the workong head to remove th plaque. A computerized system designed, constructed and configured to perform the methods is further disclosed.

The present invention is an atherectomy catheter with a rotary cutting knife that is driven from the distal (nose) or side (circumference) direction. The catheter collects plaque shavings in a hollow collection chamber mounted in between the rotary cutting knife and the main catheter tubing. In contrast to prior art designs, which utilized nose mounted plaque collection chambers, the present design is able to store a substantially larger volume of removed plaque, thus increasing the length of time and amount of plaque removal that can be accomplished before the catheter must be removed from the body and cleaned. This decreases medical procedure time, allows for more complete and careful plaque removal, and reduces the burden on the patient and physician.

The invention relates to a catheter device for performing an atherectomy, which device contains an atherectomy catheter and a stent premounted on the atherectomy catheter.

An atherectomy catheter is provided for excising and imaging material in a body lumen. In one embodiment, the catheter comprises a catheter body, a cutting blade, and an imaging device. The cutting blade is mounted on the catheter body and configured to move between a first position and a second position relative to an aperture or cutting window. When the cutting blade is in the second position, the blade substantially closes the aperture on the catheter body. The imaging device which is mounted on or otherwise coupled to the cutting blade is configured to be in an imaging position when the cutting blade substantially closes the aperture or cutter window. This allows the imaging device to survey material within the cutting zone of the atherectomy catheter. By allowing the imaging device to view materials within this cutting zone, material may be imaged and then removed from the body lumen without having to reposition the catheter between each step.

The invention provides a medical device having a catheter and one or more expandable constricting/occluding members. The catheter is adapted for use with therapeutic or diagnostic devices, including an angioplasty/stent catheter and an atherectomy catheter. The constrictor/occluder is mounted at the distal end of the catheter. Manometers may be mounted distal to one or more constrictors for measuring pressure distal to the constrictor(s). Methods of using the devices for preventing distal embolization during extracranial or intracranial carotid procedures or vertebral artery procedures by reversing blood flow in an internal carotid artery, an external carotid artery, and/or a common carotid artery toward the subclavian artery are disclosed.

The present invention is an atherectomy catheter with a hollow head. The head has a window with at least one internal bladed edge, a plunger, and an adjustable angle nose. The angle of the nose can be manipulated by the operator to apply pressure to an artery wall, thereby forcing the window and the window cutting edge up against a plaque target on the opposite side of the artery wall. The position of the plunger can be manipulated by the operator to open or close the window, thereby exposing or not exposing the bladed window edge, and optionally also pinching off dangling plaque fragments. Cut plaque enters the hollow catheter head through the open window, and is stored inside the catheter for removal from the body and subsequent analysis. In some embodiments, the catheter head may have optional sensors, or the plunger may also serve as a rotary cutter.

A catheter system is described for operation within a stenosed blood vessel. The catheter system includes a catheter shaft having at least one lumen. The catheter system further includes a convex distal housing that includes a series of openings along a convex surface that allow vascular plaque tissue to enter the interior of the distal housing. The catheter system also includes an internal rotational cutter having blades that are in proximity to the portion of the inner surface of the distal housing that includes the openings. Additionally, the catheter system includes a drive shaft coupled to the internal rotational cutter.

Apparatus and methods are described for effective removal of emboli or harmful fluids during vascular procedures, such as angiography, balloon angioplasty, stent deployment, laser angioplasty, atherectomy, intravascular ultrasonography and other therapeutic and diagnostic procedures. A catheter with an occluder mounted at its distal end creates an occlusion proximal to the lesion. The catheter provides a pathway for introducing a treatment catheter. Prior to, during or subsequent to the procedure, suction is activated to establish retrograde flow to remove emboli from the site. Additionally, a thin catheter with a distal fluid ejection nozzle maybe introduced distal to the treatment site to rinse emboli from the treatment site. The suction flow and/or ejected fluid flow may be varied in a pulsatile manner to simulate regular blood flow and/or perturb settled emboli into being captured that may otherwise not be collected. The method establishes a protective environment before any devices enter the site to be treated.

The present invention provides an improved atherectomy catheter having means for directing particles generated by a cutting element into a collection chamber. Methods of directing the cut material from a blood vessel lumen into a collection chamber are also provided.

An automatic atherectomy system uses the rotary burr at the tip of a catheter as a sensing device, in order to measure both the electrical conductivity and permittivity of the surrounding tissue at multiple frequencies. From these parameters it is determined which tissue lies in the different directions around the tip. A servo system steers the catheter tip in the direction of the tissue to be removed. In non-atherectomy applications the rotary tip can be replaced with any desired tool and the system can be used to automatically steer the catheter to the desired position. The steering is done hydraulically, by pressurizing miniature bellows located near the catheter tip.

The present invention provides an atherectomy catheter which has a cutting element that is able to cut both soft tissue and hard tissue, and methods of cutting material from a blood vessel lumen using a rotating cutting element. The cutting element has a sharp cutting edge that surrounds a cup-shaped surface and at least one surface of abrasive material. The cup-shaped surface directs the cut material into a tissue chamber. The cutting edge and the cup-shaped surface together are well suited to cut and remove relatively soft tissue from the blood vessel. The abrasive material surface in combination with the cutting element is well suited to abrade and remove hard material from the blood vessel.

The invention provides a medical device having a catheter and one or more expandable constricting/occluding members. The catheter is adapted for use with therapeutic or diagnostic devices, including an angioplasty/stent catheter and an atherectomy catheter. The constrictor/occluder is mounted at the distal end of the catheter. Manometers may be mounted distal to one or more constrictors for measuring pressure distal to the constrictor(s). Methods of using the devices are disclosed for preventing distal embolization during extracranial or intracranial carotid artery, vertebral artery, or coronary artery procedures, or procedures involving any vessel having collateral flow by reversing flow in the diseased vessel.

Catheter device for performing atherectomy, comprising an atherectomy catheter, an OCT sensor, an IVUS sensor, position sensors and an image processing unit, which is embodied for creating combined 2D and/or 3D images based on the data of the sensors.

Apparatus is provided for removing plaque from a blood vessel of a subject, including a catheter shaped to define an opening that is placed in the blood vessel. A pressure source propels a fluid jet through the opening, and a pressure sensor detects a pressure in the blood vessel induced by the jet. A control unit steers the jet in response to the detected pressure. Other embodiments are also described.

An atherectomy burr has an operating diameter that is larger than the diameter of a catheter in which the burr is routed. The burr may include an expandable polymeric balloon having a partially abrasive exterior surface. The maximum expansion of the burr is controlled by an expansion mechanism. Various mechanisms are disclosed for controlling the maximum diameter of the burr thus preventing the burr from over expanding. In addition, the present invention includes systems that are pulled proximally to remove portions of a lesion located in a patient's vasculature. The system includes an ablation burr that has abrasive disposed on the proximal end. The burr may create a seal when expanded to block the ablated particulate so that an aspiration system can remove the particulate from the vasculature. Alternatively, the burr system may include a self expanding seal that is deployed out of the aspiration sheath.