Device, system, and Method for detecting and localizing obstruction within a blood vessel
AssigneeGalil Medical Ltd.
InventorRoni Zvuloni
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention is of system, device, and method for detecting and localizing obstruction in a blood vessel. More particularly, the present invention is of a balloon catheter having an expandable balloon which comprises a plurality of strain gauges operable to report relative degrees of expansion of local portions of a wall of the expandable balloon. Incomplete expansion of a local portion of the balloon, under common pressure within the balloon, indicates presence of an obstruction, such as a region of plaque, within the blood vessel.
Claims41
A balloon catheter operable to detect and report obstructions in a blood vessel, comprising:
- a. an expandable balloon;
- and
- b. a plurality of strain gauges each operable to report a degree of expansion of a local portion of a wall of said expandable balloon.
A method for detecting obstruction in a blood vessel, comprising:
- a. introducing into said blood vessel a balloon catheter having an expandable balloon which comprises a plurality of strain gauges operable to measure and report degrees of expansion of local portions of a wall of said expandable balloon;
- b. expanding said balloon within said blood vessel;
- c. comparing expansions reported by a plurality of strain gauges;
- and
- d. reporting obstruction of said blood vessel if at least one of said plurality of strain gauges reports less expansion than another of said strain gauges.
A system for detecting and localizing obstructing material in a blood vessel, comprising:
- a. an expandable balloon catheter having an expandable balloon which comprises a plurality of strain gauges operable to measure and report local expansion of portions of said expandable balloon
- b. a data analysis module operable to calculate an analysis of data received from said plurality of strain gauges.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.