Back to results
US 7,118,551 B1Granted
Non-metal reinforcing mandrel
AssigneeAdvanced Cardiovascular Systems, Inc.
InventorsJeong S. Lee, Ken Wantink
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus for providing support along the length of a catheter is described. The present invention consists of a mandrel fabricated from a non-metal. The mandrel extends through the lumen of a dilatation catheter to provide added support and stiffness to the catheter shaft. The stiffness along the length of the non-metal mandrel may easily be varied by making dimensional or morphological changes to the polymeric mandrel.
Claims15
A catheter comprising:
- an elongated catheter shaft having an inner tubular member with a lumen, and an outer tubular member disposed about the inner tubular member such that a lumen of the outer tubular member is defined therebetween;
- and
- a variable stiffness mandrel disposed in said outer tubular member lumen, having a solid core comprised of a non-metal material, a bonded proximal end section which fixedly secures the mandrel relative to the catheter shaft, an annealed proximal section which is located between and spaced apart from an outer surface of the inner tubular member and an inner surface of the outer tubular member and which has a first crystallinity, and a non-annealed distal section with a second crystallinity lower than said proximal section first crystallinity such that the proximal section is stiffer than the distal section.
A catheter comprising:
- an outer member;
- a hollow inner member extending through said outer member;
- an outer lumen between said inner and outer members;
- and
- a non-metal mandrel formed of a polyetheretherketone polymeric material, extending through said outer lumen, said mandrel having an annealed proximal section located between and spaced apart from an outer surface of the inner member and an inner surface of the outer member having a first crystallinity, and a non-annealed distal section having a second crystallinity lower than the proximal section first crystallinity, and being uniformly tapered from the proximal section to the distal section.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.