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US 2003/0114833 A1Published application
Assemblies for creating compound curves in distal catheter regions
AssigneeBoston Scientific Scimed, Inc.
InventorsRussell B. Thompson, Sidney D. Fleischman, James G. Whayne, David K. Swanson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Compound steering assemblies, usable in both diagnostic and therapeutic applications, enable a physician to swiftly and accurately steer the distal section of the catheter in multiple planes or complex curves to position and maintain ablation and/or mapping electrodes in intimate contact with an interior body surface.
Claims7
A steerable catheter comprising an elongated catheter body secured to a proximal handle and having a distal end carrying at least one functional element,
- a unitary spring structure for steering said distal end comprising at least two orthogonally arranged flattened sections bendable normal to flattened planes of said sections,
- said flattened sections being axially displaced along the length of said spring structure thereby comprising a proximal flattened section and a distal flattened section,
- at least one steering wire being attached to each flattened section to apply bending forces thereto,
- a coil spring having a hollow interior lumen extending along the length of said catheter body, a distal end of said coil spring being affixed to said proximal flattened section,
- at least one steering wire extending distally from said distal end, said wire being attached to said distal flattened action for application of bending forces thereto, said steering wire having a proximal end connected to means in said handle for application of pulling forces of said wire, and
- at least one steering wire being attached to said proximal flattened section for exertion of bending forces thereon.
3 more elements
A steerable catheter comprising
- an elongated catheter body secured to a proximal handle and having a distal end carrying at least one functional element,
- a distal steering assembly which includes a section containing a preshaped wire, said wire being biased to bend said assembly into a curvilinear shape in a first plane, and
- a second steering mechanism independent from said preshaped wire which enables bending said assembly in a second plane that is non-parallel to the bending plane of the preshaped section.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.