Flexible cryoprobe
AssigneeFrigitronics, Inc.
InventorsClifford E. Potocky, Ronald M. Callanan, Raymond L. Goudreau
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Abstract
Cryosurgery may be performed by a microinvasive technique employing a novel cryosurgical probe. It is very thin, very long, and highly flexible. These characteristics are achieved by a construction consisting of a tube within a tube with no intermediate supporting elements therebetween. The probe is capable of being passed through a blood vessel and into the heart without external guidance other than the blood vessel itself.
Claims21
Apparatus for cryosurgically treating tissue within a living body which comprises:
- an elongated, thin, first tube adapted to be inserted through a blood vessel of the body being treated and highly flexible to follow the natural contours of the blood vessel, said first tube having a distal end defining a first orifice and a proximal end;
- a cooling tip carried by the distal end of said first tube, said tip being formed of a material having relatively high thermal conductivity and having an outer surface contactable with the tissue to be treated;
- an elongated, thin, second tube associated with and parallel to said first tube, said second tube being highly flexible to conform to and follow said first tube through said blood vessel and having a distal end defining a second orifice adjacent said cooling tip and a proximal end;
- means for selectively injecting a fluid refrigerating medium into the proximal end of one of said first and second tubes for passage out of its associated orifice to refrigerate said cooling tip;
- and
- means for exhausting said refrigerating medium from the other of said first and second tubes at a distance from said treated tissue.
The method of cooling a selected region of tissue adjacent a blood vessel within a living body which comprises:
- inserting into said blood vessel an elongated, thin, highly flexible probe having a distal end comprising a cooling tip formed of a material having relatively high thermal conductivity and a proximal end, the proximal end remaining outside said body;
- continuing the insertion of said probe whereby it is guided through said blood vessel substantially solely by the blood vessel itself to position its cooling tip in contact with the selected tissue region;
- cooling substantially only the cooling tip of the probe to cool the selected tissue region to a desired temperature;
- terminating the cooling of the cooling tip of the probe;
- and
- withdrawing the probe from said blood vessel.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.