Method of use for percutaneous material removal device and tip

A method of removing material from and treating a preselected body lumen with a medically useful agent in a patient in need of such removal and treatment, comprising:

• advancing through said body lumen a catheter-mounted device having a distal material removal tip including a hollow housing and a member rotatable therewithin;
• said device further comprising a device lumen, wherein said device lumen is adapted to contain a medically useful agent for release at a predetermined time;
• rotating said rotatable member;
• drawing material into said housing;
• shearing said material in said housing between relatively rotating shearing members to reduce the clogging propensity of the material;
• removing the sheared material from within said housing as said material removal tip is advanced through said preselected body lumen;
• and,
• releasing said medically useful agent into said preselected body lumen from said device lumen at said predetermined time.

A method of removing material from a preselected body lumen in a patient in need of such removal, comprising:

• advancing through said preselected body lumen a catheter-mounted device having a distal material removal tip including a hollow housing and a member rotatable therewithin, wherein said rotatable member includes grinding means for grinding said material prior to said contact of said material with said shearing member, wherein said grinding means include at least one abrasive surface fabricated from at least one abrasive material selected from the group consisting of ceramics, diamond, quartz, silicon carbide, aluminum oxide, boron carbide, boron nitride, tungsten carbide, titanium nitride, titanium surfaces with a file-like surface, and stainless steel surfaces with a file-like surface;
• rotating said rotatable member;
• grinding said material into ground material;
• drawing said ground material into said housing;
• shearing said material in said housing between relatively rotating shearing members to reduce the clogging propensity of said material;
• and
• removing said sheared material from within said housing as said material removal tip is advanced through said preselected body lumen.