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US 5,456,664 AGranted
Catheter steering mechanism
AssigneeEP Technologies, Inc.
InventorsBert D. Heinzelman, Christopher J. Brooks
Life of this patent
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AssigneeEP Technologies, Inc.
InventorsBert D. Heinzelman, Christopher J. Brooks
Estimating the term…
The invention provides an improved catheter steering mechanism for pulling a first catheter steering wire while simultaneously allowing a second catheter steering wire to remain static, and vice versa. The mechanism includes at least one rotatable gear and means, such as a rotatable knob, for manually rotating the gear. A first linearly slidable toothed rack is attached to the proximal end of one steering wire, and a second linearly slidable toothed rack is attached to the proximal end of the other steering wire. A toothed gear rotatable by rotation of the knob engages each of the toothed racks to move them linearly in opposite directions in response to rotation of said gear. Preferably three intermeshing gears are used so that movements of the racks are in the same direction as the rotation of the knob. Preferably the steering wires are connected to the racks by connections that transfer tension as the racks move away from the wires but allow the wires to remain static, when the rack moves toward its associated wire.
A catheter steering mechanism for retracting a catheter steering wire to bend a catheter distal tip comprising:
A cardiac probe comprising a catheter having at least one electrode at the distal end thereof and at lest one steering wire extending through said catheter from the distal end to the proximal end thereof,
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.