Catheter for uniform distribution of therapeutic fluids
AssigneeAdvanced Cardiovascular Systems, Inc.
InventorsMichael D. Dake, Mark A. Maguire
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A vascular catheter for delivering a uniform flow of therapeutic fluid over a length of the catheter. The catheter is particularly suitable for delivering thrombolytic agents to a thrombus or clot in a patient's arterial system. In a preferred embodiment, the catheter has a relatively thick-walled tubular body with a central lumen for advancement over a guidewire and a plurality of fluid delivering lumens disposed within the relatively thick wall. Each of the smaller lumens has a single flow passageway to discharge therapeutic fluid to the exterior of the catheter.
Claims11
A multilumen vascular catheter for the uniform delivery of fluid containing drugs, therapeutic agents and the like comprising an elongated tubular body having a wall defining a first lumen for receiving a guidewire to facilitate the advancement of the catheter through a patient's vasculature and a plurality of second lumens disposed longitudinally within the wall, each of said second lumens having a flow passageway in a distal portion of the catheter extending from the second lumen through the wall of the tubular body to the exterior thereof with the flow passageways having a minimum crosssectional area of about 1.times.10.sup.-6 to about 5.times.10.sup.-4 and being longitudinally spaced from each other so that a uniform flow of fluid is discharged over the distal portion of the catheter.
The method of treating a thrombus within a patient's vascular system comprising:
- (a) advancing a guidewire through the patient's vasculature and passing the distal tip thereof through the thrombus to be treated;
- (b) advancing a vascular catheter over the guidewire and urging the distal portion of the catheter into the thrombus;
- and
- (c) uniformly discharging fluid containing thrombolytic agents through passageways provided in the distal portion of the catheter into the thrombus at a rate of about 0.1 to about 2 cc per minute.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.