Medtronic Vascular, Inc.

Janet Komatsu

Emily Schoenhoff

John Kantor

Susan Peterson

Tony Le

Marcel Fuhrer

Eric Hallberg

Michael Baldwin

Steven Holt

Erik Svensson

John Wilson Traxler

Ronan Cleary

Joseph Duffy

Sameer Singh

Traci Colgan

Asim Malik

Gregory Hopper

Shyam Nagasrinivasa

Steven A Holmgren

Alan Connors

Steven Holmgren

A tubular sheath for enclosing an expandable balloon attached to the distal portion of a catheter encloses and protects the expandable balloon. The tubular sheath is configured to be slidable and removable from the catheter. The tubular sheath may include a longitudinal splitting element that is removable as a result of a force applied to the longitudinal splitting element. The longitudinal splitting element is configured to split the wall of the tubular sheath in response to the force. Alternatively, the tubular sheath may include a gripping portion that has relatively poor cohesive strength to adjacent portions of the tubular sheath. The tubular sheath is configured to be removable in response to a force applied to the gripping portion.

Expandable balloon sheaths

A medical device that is configured to house an expandable balloon includes a tubular sheath and a retaining member. The tubular sheath includes a longitudinal slit that extends parallel to a longitudinal axis of the tubular sheath and the retaining member is configured to retain the tubular sheath in a closed configuration. The tubular sheath may house the expandable balloon while the expandable balloon is attached to a catheter that is configured to navigate the expandable balloon into a body of a patient. The tubular sheath may be configured to house the expandable balloon substantially through the process of inserting the expandable balloon into the vasculature of the patient. Once the expandable balloon has been introduced into the introducer sheath and/or inserted into the vasculature of the patient, the retaining member may be disengaged and the tubular sheath removed from the catheter.

Expandable balloon sheath

Growing community of inventors

San Francisco, CA, United States of America

Janet Komatsu