System and method for visualizing catheter placement in a vasculature
AssigneeDib Ultrasound Catheter, LLC
InventorNabil Dib
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system for advancing a needle through a vasculature to an injection site at the heart of a patient includes a guide catheter with a reflective distal tip. Also included is an imaging unit that is mounted on the catheter to radiate an energy field. Structurally, a distal portion of the catheter is biased to bend into a predetermined configuration that will position the distal end of the catheter for interception by the energy field. If necessary, coincidence of the reflective tip with the energy field is established by moving the energy field along the length of the guide catheter. With coincidence, the reflective tip reflects a signal that is useful for advancement of the needle from the guide catheter and into the injection site.
Claims15
A navigation system for use in advancing a needle through a vasculature to an injection site at the heart of a patient which comprises:
- a guide catheter defining an axis and having a proximal end and a distal end, wherein the guide catheter is reconfigurable and is formed with a lumen extending between the ends thereof for advancing the needle through the lumen of the guide catheter, and wherein the guide catheter has a bendable section located along a distal portion of the guide catheter;
- a reflective tip attached to the bendable section at the distal end of the guide catheter;
- a transceiver integrated with the guide catheter and mounted for axial movement back and forth along the guide catheter to radiate an energy field in a radial direction from the axis of the guide catheter;
- and
- an actuator configured to move the transceiver to intercept reflected energy from the reflective tip on the guide catheter to create a signal from the reflective tip on the guide catheter, for receipt by the transceiver on the guide catheter, to determine where the reflective tip is located in the energy field, to reconfigure the guide catheter and position the distal tip for advancing the needle from the guide catheter into the injection site.
A navigation system for use in advancing a needle through the vasculature to an injection site at the heart of a patient which comprises:
- a guide catheter defining an axis and having a proximal end and a distal end, wherein the guide catheter is reconfigurable and is formed with a lumen extending between the ends thereof for receiving an advancement of the needle through the lumen of the guide catheter, and with a bendable section located along a distal portion of the guide catheter;
- a reflective tip attached to the bendable section at the distal end of the guide catheter;
- a transceiver integrated with the guide catheter and mounted for axial movement back and forth along the guide catheter without blocking the guide catheter lumen to radiate an energy field in a radial direction from the axis of the guide catheter;
- and
- an actuator configured to axially move the transceiver along the guide catheter to intercept reflected energy from the reflective tip on the guide catheter to create a signal from the reflective tip on the guide catheter, for receipt by the transceiver on the guide catheter, to determine where the reflective tip is located in the energy field, to reconfigure the guide catheter and position the distal tip for advancing the needle from the guide catheter into the injection site.
A navigation system for use in advancing a needle to an injection site at the heart of a patient which comprises:
- a catheter means for defining an axis and having a proximal end and a distal tip, wherein the catheter means is reconfigurable, with a bendable section located along a distal portion of the catheter;
- and
- a means for imaging integrated with the catheter means and mounted on the catheter means for radiating an energy field in a radial direction from the axis of the catheter means, wherein the imaging means on the catheter means can be selectively positioned back and forth along the axis of the catheter means to intercept reflected energy from the distal tip of the catheter means to create a signal for use in reconfiguring the catheter means and positioning the distal tip thereof to image an advancement of the needle from the distal tip into the injection site.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.