Method of fabricating a medical electrical lead

Abstract

A method of producing a lead which is isodiametric or nearly so over the region in which an elongated coiled electrode is located and which can optionally be manufactured starting from a single extruded tubular lead body of constant diameter and the lead so produced. Rather than molding the electrode into the surface of the lead or machining the electrode so that it is flush with the surface of the lead, the present invention instead employs an extruded, multiple lumen lead body of circular cross-section which has material cut away or otherwise removed in one or more regions spaced from one another around the lead body and extending longitudinally along the region of the lead body where the coil electrode is to be located or a lead body which is so molded. The areas in which material is removed or is absent are preferably located in regions where the lead body wall is thickest, for example between adjacent lumens. The removal of material may result in one or more elongated, generally planar surfaces spaced from one another around the circumference of the lead body or may result in elongated indentations spaced from one another around the circumference of the lead body. The removal or absence of material renders the lead body more compressible in the region the electrode is to be located.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.