Veryan Medical Limited

Embo Medical Limited

Perfuze Limited

Other

National University of Ireland, Galway

Liam Mullins

Paul Gilson

Kevin B Heraty

Colin Forde

Wayne Allen

William Sheridan

Martin Burke

Dara Finneran

Charles Taylor

Robert C Farnan

John B Logan

Alejandro Espinosa

Andrew M Cragg

Martin G Burke

Evin Donnelly

Lisandro Rivera

Ray Blowick

Brett Naglreiter

Eoghan Thornton

Kieran Connolly

Kevin Heraty

Andrew Cragg

A catheter () comprises a jacket () and defining a lumen, and extends distally towards a tip (). The catheter has a helical support () within the jacket for at least some of the length of the jacket. The catheter distal end has a plurality of portions of different configurations for different bending and/or pushability characteristics. These may be according to different helical supports and the manner in which they are interwoven, and/or different liners with lap joints. There may be a hydrophilic coating.

Corrugated catheters

A stent suitable for deployment in a blood vessel to support at least part of an internal wall of the blood vessel comprises a plurality of longitudinally spaced-apart annular elements, and a plurality of connecting elements to connect adjacent annular elements. Each connecting element is circumferentially offset from the previous connecting element. Upon application of a load to the stent, the stent moves from an unloaded configuration to a loaded configuration. In the unloaded configuration the longitudinal axis of the stent is straight, and the stent is cylindrically shaped. In the loaded configuration the longitudinal axis of the stent is curved in three-dimensional space, and the stent is helically shaped.

Medical device suitable for location in a body lumen

Provided is a device for delivery into a body lumen having a longitudinally extending stem and a plurality of bristles extending generally radially outwardly from the stem. The device includes at least two different groups or types of bristles.

Embolization systems

A bristle device for delivery into a body lumen comprises a longitudinally extending stemand a plurality of bristles extending generally outwardly from the stem for anchoring the device in a body lumen. There may be at least two bristle segments and in some cases there are flexible sections between the segments. The flexible sections articulate to enable the device to pass through a catheter placed in a tortuous anatomy or to be deployed in a curved vessel, or across a bifurcation. In some cases at least some of the bristle segments are spaced-apart to accommodate bending of the bristles.

Embolisation systems

A catheter has a jacket () defining a lumen and a helical support (). The catheter has a proximal portion () and a distal portion (), the distal portion having for at least some of its length a corrugated outer surface. A transition portion has a flexural stiffness which is less than that of the distal portion and more than that of the proximal portion. The transition portion provides an optimum transition in flexural stiffness by way of features of the jacket including geometry of jacket corrugations (), or overlapping tubular layers (). The distal end of the distal portion may have an extension of liner material folded over () to provide a particularly soft tip. In other examples the liner is terminated () before the distal tip. The catheter is particularly suited to an aspiration device () with a flow restrictor () and the distal portion distal of the flow restrictor. An aspiration system () may employ the catheter with a pump which dynamically applies negative or positive pressure to optimally aspirate a clot.

Catheters and devices and systems incorporating such catheters

A bristle device () for delivery into a body lumen comprises a longitudinally extending stem and a plurality of bristles extending generally outwardly from the stem for anchoring the device in a body lumen. There may beat least two bristle segments () and there are flexible sections () between the segments (). The flexible sections () articulate to enable the device to pass through a catheter placed in a tortuous anatomy or to be deployed in a curved vessel, or across a bifurcation. In some cases at least some of the bristle segments () are spaced-apart to accommodate bending of the bristles.

A medical device suitable for location in a body lumen is movable between a first loaded configuration and a second loaded configuration. The device has an unloaded configuration which is intermediate the first loaded configuration and the second loaded configuration. The device can be a stent for deployment in a blood vessel.

A bristle device for delivery into a body lumen comprises a longitudinally extending stem 1 and a plurality of bristles extending generally outwardly from the stem for anchoring the device in a body lumen. There may be at least two bristle segments and in some cases there are flexible sections between the segments. The flexible sections articulate to enable the device to pass through a catheter placed in a tortuous anatomy or to be deployed in a curved vessel, or across a bifurcation. In some cases at least some of the bristle segments are spaced-apart to accommodate bending of the bristles.

A stent suitable for deployment in a blood vessel to support at least part of an internal wall of the blood vessel includes a plurality of longitudinally spaced-apart annular elements, and a plurality of connecting elements to connect adjacent annular elements. Each connecting element is circumferentially offset from the previous connecting element. Upon application of a load to the stent, the stent moves from an unloaded configuration to a loaded configuration. In the unloaded configuration the longitudinal axis of the stent is straight, and the stent is cylindrically shaped. In the loaded configuration the longitudinal axis of the stent is curved in three-dimensional space, and the stent is helically shaped.

A medical device includes an expandable element for location in a blood vessel. The expandable element is movable between a collapsed configuration and an expanded configuration. In the expanded configuration, at least a part of a longitudinal axis of the expandable element is curved in three-dimensional space. The medical device can be stent deployment device which includes an elongate catheter shaft and an inflatable balloon.

Medical device

A stent deployment device comprises an elongate catheter shaft (), and an inflatable balloon (). The inflatable balloon () is movable between a collapsed configuration and an expanded configuration. In the expanded configuration part of the longitudinal axis of the balloon () is curved in three-dimensional space, and part of the balloon () is helically shaped. A stent () is movable from a collapsed delivery configuration to a partially expanded intermediate configuration, and subsequently from the intermediate configuration to a fully expanded deployed configuration. In the delivery configuration the longitudinal axis of the stent () is straight. The longitudinal axis of the stent () may be straight or curved in three-dimensional space in the intermediate configuration. In the deployed configuration the longitudinal axis of the stent () is curved in three-dimensional space. The balloon () in the expanded configuration exerts force on the stent (). In the deployed configuration the stent () in turn exerts force on the internal wall of a blood vessel () causing the longitudinal axis of the blood vessel () to curve in three-dimensional space.

A stent () for deployment in a blood vessel which is movable between an unloaded straight cylindrical state and a loaded curved state. The stent () is bendable between a first loaded configuration when the blood vessel is in the unloaded state, and a second loaded configuration when the blood vessel is in the loaded state. The stent () has an unloaded configuration which is intermediate the first loaded configuration and the second loaded configuration. Because of the unloaded configuration of the stent (), the degrees of deformation which the stent () undergoes are minimized leading to minimized strains, increased fatigue life, and reduced risk of fracture.

A stent suitable for deployment in a blood vessel to support at least part of an internal wall of the blood vessel includes a central section, a first intermediate section, a first end section, a second intermediate section and a section end section. The stent is movable between a delivery configuration and a deployment configuration.

Stent suitable for deployment in a blood vessel

A stent () comprises a central section (), a first intermediate section (), a first end section (), a second intermediate section (), and a second end section (). The stent () is movable between a collapsed delivery configuration and an expanded deployment configuration. In the delivery configuration the central section (), the first intermediate section (), the first end section (), the second intermediate section (), and the second end section () are all cylindrically shaped. In the deployment configuration the central section () is helically shaped, while the first end section () and the second end section () remain cylindrically shaped. Each intermediate section () acts as a blended region to provide a smooth transition from the helical shape of the central section () to the cylindrical shape of the unstented blood vessel. The radial stiffness of the stent () varies gradually along part of the length of the stent (). The radial stiffness of the end region of the stent () is less than the radial stiffness of a first region located further in from the end of the stent (). The variation in radial stiffness reduces the area of blood vessel wall which has low wall shear stress, reduces the possibility of recirculation, and reduces the risk of neointimal hyperplasia.

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Athlone, Ireland

Liam Mullins