Catheter and catheter system

Abstract

A catheter having a lumen includes a tube, a sensor unit disposed at a distal end of the tube and capable of transmitting and receiving ultrasound, and an irradiation unit disposed at the distal end of the tube and capable of emitting the ultrasound toward a guide wire which passes through the lumen and protrudes from the distal end of the tube. The shape of the biological tissue can be observed by transmitting the ultrasound from the sensor units toward the biological tissue and receiving the reflection wave reflected by the biological tissue at the sensor units. Irradiating the guide wire with the ultrasound transmitted from the irradiation unit causes the guide wire to vibrate. The vibration of the guide wire can facilitate the passage through an occlusion site of the biological tissue.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.