Systems and methods for accessing a renal capsule for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for accessing a renal capsule of a patient's kidney in a minimally invasive manner for therapeutic and/or diagnostic purposes. The method includes advancing the distal end of a catheter into the subcapsular space of the renal capsule and performing the therapeutic and/or diagnostic procedure(s). With access to the renal capsule, the catheter may be used to, for example, remove fluid from the subscapular space, decapsulate the renal capsule by disrupting the fibrous capsule of the renal capsule to relieve renal pressure, displace the fibrous capsule from the kidney, measure/monitor renal pressure within the kidney, and/or deliver drug therapy and/or stem cells, viruses for gene therapy, RNAi, nanoparticles, dyes, etc. to the subcapsular space of the renal capsule.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.