Debulking catheters and methods

Abstract

A debulking catheter comprising a tissue debulking assembly for removing material from a body lumen. Catheters of the present invention generally include a catheter body having proximal and distal portions and a tissue debulking assembly disposed at least partially within the distal portion. The tissue debulking assembly is radially movable to expose at least a portion of the assembly through a window on the catheter body to contact material in the body lumen. The catheter may then be moved to allow the tissue debulking assembly to remove all or a portion of the material. In exemplary embodiments, the distal portion of the catheter body is rotatably coupled to the proximal portion such that rotation or deflection of the distal portion, relative to the proximal portion, urges the window against material in the body lumen, exposes the tissue debulking assembly through the window, or both. In some embodiments, the flexible proximal portion includes a rigid distal portion to enhance positioning of the debulking assembly within the body lumen.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.