Device, system, and method for detecting and localizing obstruction within a blood vessel
AssigneeGalil Medical Ltd.
InventorRoni Zvuloni
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention is of system, device, and method for detecting and localizing obstruction in a blood vessel. More particularly, the present invention is of a balloon catheter having an expandable balloon which comprises a plurality of strain gauges operable to report relative degrees of expansion of local portions of a wall of the expandable balloon. Incomplete expansion of a local portion of the balloon, under common pressure within the balloon, indicates presence of an obstruction, such as a region of plaque, within the blood vessel.
Claims38
A balloon catheter operable to detect and report obstructions in a blood vessel, comprising:
- a. an expandable balloon;
- and
- b. a plurality of sets of strain gauges, each set comprising a plurality of gauges mounted on a circumference of said balloon at a common longitudinal distance alone said balloon, and each of said strain gauges being operable to report a degree of expansion of a local portion of a wall of said balloon in a vicinity of said each strain.
A method for detecting obstruction in a blood vessel, comprising:
- a. introducing into said blood vessel a balloon catheter having an expandable balloon which comprising a plurality of strain gauges mounted on a circumference of said balloon at a common longitudinal distance along said balloon and operable to measure and report degrees of expansion of local portions of a wall of said balloon;
- b. expanding said balloon within said blood vessel;
- c. comparing expansions reported by said plurality of strain gauges;
- and
- d. reporting obstruction of said blood vessel if at least one strain gauge of said plurality of strain gauges report less expansion than another strain gauge of said plurality of strain gauges.
A system for detecting and localizing obstructing material in a blood vessel, comprising:
- a. an expandable balloon catheter having an expandable balloon which comprises a plurality of strain gauges operable to measure and report local expansion of portions of said expandable balloon, said plurality of strain gauges being mounted on a circumference of said balloon at a common longitudinal distance along said balloon;
- and
- b. a data analysis module which compares data received from said plurality of strain gauges and reports obstruction of said blood vessel if at least one strain gauge of said plurality of strain gauges reports less expansion than another strain gauge of said plurality of strain gauges.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.