Methods and apparatus for plaque disruption
AssigneeElixir Medical Corporation
InventorsMotasim Sirhan, Benjamyn Serna, Bozena Treadwell, John Yan
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Balloon catheters, sleeves, cages, and endoluminal prostheses are provided with stress-applying and spacing features coupled to expandable surfaces thereof. The stress-applying features may have blunt and/or rounded contact regions which contact tissue or calcified regions in the vasculature. The contact regions dent or fracture occlusive material on the wall of a vascular lumen and/or patient valve leaflets when expanded. The spacing features permit blood, drug, and contrast perfusion past structures expanded in the vasculature, particularly balloon catheters.
Claims26
An apparatus for treating calcification on a wall in a patient's body lumen, the apparatus comprising:
- a catheter including a catheter body having a proximal end and a distal segment;
- an expandable polymeric balloon disposed at the distal segment of the catheter body, the expandable polymeric balloon having an outer surface configured to be displaced radially outward toward an inner surface of the wall in the patient's body lumen;
- and
- a plurality of plaque-disrupting features distributed over the outer surface of the expandable polymeric balloon, wherein at least some of the plurality of plaque-disrupting features have an upper surface configured to fracture the calcification while reducing damage to the patient's body lumen when the expandable polymeric balloon is expanded within the patient's body lumen;
- wherein the at least some of the plurality of plaque-disrupting features comprise discrete bodies;
- wherein the at least some of the plaque-disrupting features comprise any one or any combination of a ball, a sphere, a partial sphere, a hemisphere, an ellipsoidal solid, or a dome;
- and wherein a bottom-most surface of each of the ball, the sphere, the partial sphere, the hemisphere, the ellipsoidal solid, or the dome is directly bonded to the outer surface of the expandable polymeric balloon.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.