Central venous pressure catheter for preventing air embolism and method of making

Abstract

A central venous pressure catheter has a long flexible tube containing at least three channels or lumens. At a tip end of the catheter a balloon surrounds the tube and is inflatable via one of the channels. A distal port and a proximal port in the wall of the tube are located on either side of the balloon, respectively, and are connected to the other two channels, respectively. The tip end of the catheter may be inserted via a jugular vein into a patient's superior cava vein near the heart. The balloon is inflated to partially obstruct the flow of blood and to increase the blood pressure at a site of surgery at the head or neck of a patient in the upright position to avoid air embolism as well as to prevent bleeding there. The differential pressure, e.g. in cm H.sub.2 O, between the two ports is made equal to the vertical distance between the distal port and the site of surgery by adjusting the size of the balloon.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.