Low profile catheter valve

An apparatus, comprising:

• a hollow metallic guidewire having a central lumen and a side-access port in fluid communication with the lumen;
• an inflatable balloon mounted on the guidewire, the inflatable balloon being in fluid communication with the central lumen, such that fluid introduced through the side-access port can be used to inflate the balloon;
• a valve mounted to slide along a surface of the guidewire, said valve movable between first and second positions, one of said positions sealing the central lumen such that substantially no fluid may pass to or from the inflatable balloon by way of the side-access port.

A low profile catheter valve, comprising:

• a sealing member capable of being movably inserted through a proximal opening on a catheter into an inflation lumen of the catheter, the catheter having a side-access inflation port and an inflatable balloon in fluid communication with the side-access inflation port;
• a sealer portion on the sealing member, the sealer portion being capable of forming a fluid tight seal with the entire circumference of a section of the lumen, such that substantially all fluid may not pass the sealer portion;
• wherein when the sealer portion is positioned within the lumen proximally of the side-access inflation port, an unrestricted fluid pathway is established between the side-access inflation port and the balloon, and when the sealer portion is positioned within the lumen distally of the side-access inflation port, substantially all fluid may not pass to or from the balloon through the side-access inflation port.

A low profile catheter valve for use with an inflation adaptor, comprising:

• a catheter having an inflatable member and an inflation opening for inflating the inflatable member, the inflatable member being in fluid communication with the inflation opening;
• a sealing member movably mounted in the catheter for selectively blocking fluid flow between the inflation opening and the inflatable member;
• indicia on at least one of said catheter and said sealing member, the position of the indicia being such that alignment of said indicia with corresponding indicia on the inflation adaptor causes the inflation opening to be disposed within a fluid tight inflation chamber of the inflation adaptor.

A medical device apparatus, comprising:

• a flexible elongate tubular body having a proximal end and a distal end, and a lumen having a longitudinal axis extending between the proximal end and the distal end, the lumen having an opening at the proximal end;
• an expandable member on the distal end of the tubular body;
• an elongate member having a portion which engages a surface of the tubular body within the lumen of the tubular body, said portion being movable along the longitudinal axis relative to said surface of the tubular body between two positions, one of the positions positioning the portion in contact with said surface at a location for maintaining actuation of the expandable member.