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US 2003/0078613 A1Published application
Distal balloon waist material relief and method of manufacture
AssigneeSciMed Life Systems, Inc.
InventorMatthew Heidner
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A balloon catheter having an improved balloon waist design in which material is removed prior to thermal processing. In one embodiment, a series of patterned voids are formed in the balloon waist to reduce the amount of polymeric material and to better control flowing polymeric material during thermal processing.
Claims22
A balloon dilation catheter, comprising:
- an elongate shaft having a proximal end and a distal end;
- and
- a balloon connected to the distal end of the shaft, the balloon having an expandable region and a balloon waist, the balloon waist including a plurality of voids prior to thermal reformation that cause the balloon waist to have a reduced profile subsequent to thermal reformation.
A balloon dilation catheter, comprising:
- an elongate shaft having a proximal and a distal end;
- and
- a molded balloon attached to the distal end of the shaft, the balloon being molded to have an expandable region and a balloon waist, the balloon waist having a material volume per unit length, wherein the material volume per unit length after attachment to the distal end of the elongate shaft is less than the material volume per unit length immediately after molding of the balloon.
A method of manufacturing a balloon catheter comprising the steps of:
- providing a catheter shaft having a proximal end and a distal end;
- providing an expandable balloon having a waist and an expandable portion;
- forming a plurality of voids in the balloon waist;
- thermally reforming the waist to close the voids and to reduce the profile of the waist;
- and
- attaching the waist to the distal end of the catheter shaft.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.