Medtronic, Inc.

Sharon Ma Schwab

Mauricio L Fugoso

Karen M Rowean

Maritess E Minas

Michelle E Fourmont

Christopher Todd Brahana

An intravascular medical catheter and method of manufacturing a medical catheter are provided herein. The medical catheter includes a guidewire shaft, a sleeve, and a balloon. The sleeve is attached to the guidewire shaft while a distal tail of the balloon is thermally bonded to the sleeve. Because of the sleeve, the distal tail of the balloon can be thermally bonded even if the guidewire shaft is made of a material which is thermally incompatible with the balloon. Thus, for example, a medical catheter can be made with an HDPE guidewire shaft and a balloon made of PEBA, PET, Polyurethane, or Nylon. The resulting medical catheter has a catheter tip which is durable, flexible, and has a relatively low profile for good tracking in the body vessel and good lesion crossing.

Balloon attachment at catheter tip

The catheter (5) with a flexible tip (20) includes a manifold (25) at the proximal end, a flexible catheter body (40) having a proximal end and a distal end, a balloon (15) at the distal end and a distal flexible tip (20). The catheter is designed for operation as an 'over the wire' catheter and would be compatible with a flexible guidewire, such as guidewire (30). The flexible tip invention also would be compatible with 'rapid exchange' or 'single operator exchange' catheters. Flexible tip (20) extends distally from balloon (15) and guidewire shaft (55). In the preferred embodiment flexible tip (20) is formed from distal material of balloon (15). The length of the flexible tip (20) will vary depending on the path that catheter (5) must travel through the artery to get to its desired location. The length of the tip will balance the pushability desired versus the flexibility desired. A longer flexible tip (20) on catheter (5) would allow enough flexibility at the tip for catheter (5) to get at hard to reach lesions through a tortuous path. A shorter flexible tip (20) on catheter (5) would make the tip stiffer and allow higher pushability through blocked arteries. By varying the flexible tip (20), the catheter 5 may be designed for many different conditions.

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Encinitas, CA, United States of America

Sharon Ma Schwab