Rotate to advance catheterization system
AssigneeEssex Technology, Inc.
InventorJames J. Frassica
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system of rotate-to-advance medical devices including catheters, dilators, occluders, stents, suprapubic catheters and camera introducers configured with external screw threads and depending substantially on rotation for means of advancement and emplacement in mammalian genitourinary and gastrointestinal passages and organs.
Claims24
A threaded introducer system for accessing a bodily passageway, said introducer system comprising:
- a flexible tube having a distal end and a proximal end, a longitudinal axis extending between said distal end and said proximal end, and a lumen extending from said distal end to said proximal end, said lumen being sized to receive visualization apparatus for visualizing structures disposed adjacent to said distal end of said tube;
- apparatus for connecting visualization apparatus received within said lumen to said tube;
- and
- an external thread disposed over said distal end of said tube, said external thread having a sufficient structural integrity, and a sufficient surface profile, such that when said tube is disposed in a bodily passageway, rotation of said tube about said longitudinal axis will result in longitudinal motion of said tube along said bodily passageway.
A threaded introducer system for accessing the gastrointestinal tract, comprising a flexible catheter tube with a lumen extending from the distal end of said tube to the proximal end of said tube, and further comprising an external thread disposed over said distal end of said tube;
- said distal end of said tube incorporating a window, said lumen terminating at said window;
- said system further comprising a visual sensor attached to the distal end of a flexible hollow spine, a cable harness extending from said visual sensor through said spine and out the proximal end thereof, said visual sensor and said spine being insertable and securable within said lumen of said tube with said visual sensor configured to view through said window;
- said system further comprising a drum with an axial opening around which a handle is rotatably attached, said drum sized to hold said introducer system in a coiled configuration, said drum rotatingly dispensing said system through said axial opening while said handle is held in a non-rotational grip.
A method for introducing a medical device into a gastrointestinal tract using a threaded introducer, said introducer comprising a flexible catheter tube with a lumen extending from the distal end of said tube to the proximal end of said tube and an external thread disposed over said distal end, said method comprising in any order the steps of:
- advancing said threaded introducer through said gastrointestinal tract by rotating said proximal end, and
- inserting said device into said threaded introducer through said proximal end.
A visualization system for traversing a bodily passageway, said system comprising:
- a flexible tube having a distal end and a proximal end, a longitudinal axis extending between said distal end and said proximal end, and a lumen extending from said distal end to said proximal end;
- visualization apparatus received in said lumen for visualizing structures disposed adjacent to said distal end of said tube;
- and
- an external thread disposed over said distal end of said tube, said external thread having a sufficient structural integrity, and a sufficient surface profile, such that when said tube is disposed in a bodily passageway, rotation of said tube about said longitudinal axis will result in longitudinal motion of said tube along said bodily passageway.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.