Disengageable catheter assemblies

A disengageable catheter assembly comprising:

• an indwelling catheter configured to be inserted into a patient's body, the indwelling catheter comprising a catheter wall defining a catheter lumen, wherein the indwelling catheter extends between a catheter distal portion and a catheter proximal expanded portion, wherein the catheter distal portion comprises an anchoring mechanism configured to transition between a compacted configuration and an expanded configuration, wherein the catheter distal portion comprises at least one catheter distal opening in fluid communication with the catheter lumen, and wherein the catheter proximal expanded portion comprises a catheter varying-diameter engagement surface;
• and
• an external tube comprising a tube wall defining a tube lumen, wherein the external tube comprises a tube distal expanded portion which comprises a tube varying-diameter engagement surface;
• wherein the disengageable catheter assembly is configured to non-adjustably transition between an engaged state, in which the catheter engagement surface and the tube engagement surface are frictionally engaged with each other, and a disengaged state, in which the indwelling catheter and the external tube are separated from each other such that no portion of the external tube is disposed around or through the indwelling catheter;
• wherein the catheter lumen is in fluid communication with the tube lumen in the engaged state;
• wherein the frictional engagement between the catheter varying-diameter engagement surface and the tube varying-diameter engagement surface in the engaged state is configured to allow disengagement therebetween when the indwelling catheter and the external tube are subjected to an axial pull force exceeding a threshold separating force that is not greater than 20 N for a duration of no more than 10 seconds;
• wherein, when the indwelling catheter is inserted into the patient's body, the catheter distal portion is configured to reside inside the patient's body, while the catheter proximal expanded portion and the entirety of the external tube are configured to remain external to the patient's body;
• wherein engagement between the catheter varying-diameter engagement surface and the tube varying-diameter engagement surface in the engaged state is configured to be facilitated by a distally-oriented movement of the tube distal expanded portion towards the catheter proximal expanded portion;
• and
• wherein the disengageable catheter assembly is manually reconnectable from the disengaged state to the engaged state by distally moving the tube distal expanded portion towards the catheter proximal expanded portion;
• and
• wherein the disengageable catheter assembly is devoid of a connector configured to facilitate connection of the indwelling catheter and the external tube to each other in any type of engagement which is not frictional engagement.