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US 2003/0171736 A1Published application
Catheter shaft with coextruded stiffener
AssigneeVisionary Biomedical, Inc.
InventorEdwin Bon
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A steerable catheter having a shaft with one or more internal stiffeners coextruded within the shaft along a portion of its length. The internal stiffeners have a higher or lower hardness than the body of the catheter shaft. The overall stiffness of the shaft varies along its length for improved steerability.
Claims23
A catheter shaft comprising:
- a shaft body formed of a polymeric material having a first hardness, the shaft body having a first end and a second end and defining a length therebetween;
- and
- at least one stiffener embedded within the shaft body along at least a portion of the length of the shaft body, the at least one stiffener formed of a polymeric material having a second hardness different than the first hardness.
A steerable catheter comprising:
- an elongate catheter shaft having a first end and a second end, and defining a length between said first and second ends;
- at least one internal stiffener embedded within said catheter shaft;
- and
- at least one steering wire extending through at least a portion of the length of said catheter shaft.
1 more element
A steerable catheter comprising:
- a handle comprising at least one steering actuator;
- a catheter shaft having a proximal end connected to the handle, a distal end opposite the proximal end, and defining a length between said proximal and distal ends, said catheter shaft comprising at least one instrument lumen and at least steering wire lumen;
- at least one stiffener coextruded within said catheter shaft;
- and
- at least one steering wire extending through said at least one steering wire lumen of the catheter shaft and connected to said steering actuator.
2 more elements
A method of forming a catheter shaft, said method comprising:
- extruding a first polymeric material to form a shaft body, the first polymeric material having a first hardness;
- and
- coextruding a second polymeric material to form at least one stiffener within the shaft body, the second polymeric material having a second hardness different from the first hardness.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.