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US 2006/0135915 A1Published application
Catheter with direction orientation
AssigneeSmiths Medical ASD, Inc.
InventorDavid Tucker
Life of this patent
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AssigneeSmiths Medical ASD, Inc.
InventorDavid Tucker
Estimating the term…
A regional anesthesia catheter used with a guide such as for example a needle cannula has a distal portion integrally connected to a main portion of the catheter by a junction portion that has a cross-sectional profile different from the distal and main portions, so as to predispose the distal portion of the catheter to move in a given direction when the distal portion is not guided by or constrained by the needle cannula. The cross-sectional profile of the junction portion may be configured in a particular shape, or be constructed to have a flexibility that predisposes the distal portion to bend, curve or move toward a given direction. Once the predisposed direction to which the distal end of the catheter points is known, a physician can readily orient the catheter relative to the needle cannula so that once the distal end of the catheter exits the distal tip of the needle cannula, with the cannula already placed in a position proximate to the desired location to which the distal end of the catheter is to be placed, the physician can readily place the distal end of the catheter at the desired location within the patient. Instead of only one junction portion, a number of portions of a catheter may be configured to bend at a predefined direction. Further, a catheter may be configured to have a cross sectional profile or a predefined flexibility along its entire length that causes the catheter to bend, curve or move in a predefined direction.
A catheter to be used with and passable through a guide for insertion into a patient, comprising:
In combination, a hollow guide, a catheter passably fitted to and movable along said guide, said catheter having a substantially circular cross sectional profile along its entire length except for at least one portion between its distal and proximal ends, said one portion having a cross sectional profile configured to predispose the distal end of said catheter toward a given direction so as to cause said catheter to be moved in said given direction once said one portion of said catheter is not constrained said guide.
A method of introducing a catheter into a patient, comprising the steps of:
A catheter comprising a distal portion connected to a main portion by a junction that has a cross section different from the respective cross sections of said main and distal portions, said distal portion if unguided points to and is movable along a first direction and said second portion if unguided points to and is movable along a second direction not in alignment with said first direction, said catheter insertable into and movable along a hollow guide extending along a given axis, said junction being configured to have a cross sectional profile that causes said distal portion to bend toward said first direction once said distal portion and said junction are no longer confined within said guide after said catheter has been inserted into said guide and moved therealong.
25-41. (canceled)
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.