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US 2006/0135916 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.
1-24. (canceled)
Apparatus comprising a needle cannula, an anesthesia catheter having a distal end and a proximal end, said catheter movably fitted to said cannula with its distal end being inserted first into a first end of said cannula so that said catheter is movable along said cannula, said catheter having a substantially circular cross section along its entire length except for at least one portion proximate to its distal end, said one portion having a non-circular cross section configured to cause the distal end of said catheter to move in a direction predefined by the configuration of said one portion when the distal end and then said one portion of said catheter exit outside said cannula through a second end of said cannula.
A catheter comprising a tubing passable through a guide for insertion into a patient, said tubing having a given length and a cross sectional profile along the length of said tubing configured to predispose said catheter to bend or curve in a given direction.
Apparatus comprising a needle cannula, a regional anesthesia catheter having a distal end and a proximal end, said catheter movably fitted to said cannula with its distal end being inserted first into a first end of said cannula so that said catheter is movable along said cannula, said catheter having a cross sectional profile along its entire length configured to cause the distal end of said catheter to move in a predefined direction when the distal end and then the rest of said catheter exit outside said cannula through a second end of said cannula.
Apparatus of claim 33, wherein said catheter has a non-circular cross section.
A catheter to be used with and passable through a guide for insertion to a patient, comprising a tubing having a cross-sectional profile that is configured to bend in a given direction so that when any portion of said tubing extends out of said guide, said tubing is routed naturally in said given direction.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.