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AssigneeMercator MedSystems, Inc.
InventorsKirk Patrick Seward, Lynn Mateel Barr, Judith Carol Wilber, Robert Cafferata
Estimating the term…
Methods and kits for delivering pharmaceutical agents to the adventitia and other regions outside the external elastic lamina (EEL) surrounding a blood vessel utilize a catheter having a needle. The needle is positioned in up to 5 mm beyond the EEL and delivers an amount of pharmaceutical agent sufficient to circumferentially permeate around the blood vessel and, in many cases, extend longitudinally and radially along the blood vessel. Confirmation that a delivery aperture of the needle lies beyond the EEL may be required before delivering the pharmaceutical agent.
An improved method for injecting a pharmaceutical agent into the tissue of a living host using a needle positioned from a lumen of a blood vessel, wherein the improvement comprises positioning the needle outwardly from the blood vessel lumen, injecting a fluid through the needle, and monitoring backpressure to confirm that a delivery aperture of the needle has penetrated into tissue beyond an external elastic lamina (EEL) of the blood vessel, wherein injection into the blood vessel wall results in a higher backpressure than injection into the adventitial space.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.