American Hospital Supply Corporation

William Ganz

Clement E Lieber

Lawrence Webster Blake

Harold J Swan

Ronald J Solar

A catheter comprising an elongated flexible tube having an elongated passage extending axially through the tube between proximal and distal openings and a helically wound wire engaging the peripheral wall of the tube and providing a portion of the peripheral wall with an uneven contour. The tube includes a radiopaque marker at the distal end of the catheter. The radiopaque marker is molded from a biocompatible metal powder and a thermoplastic binder. The catheter is adapted for use with an angiography catheter, and it is configured to provide automatic orientation of the distal end portion of the catheter as such distal end portion emerges from the distal opening of the angiography catheter.

Infusion catheter

The catheter is flow-directed through the heart of the patient by a balloon on its distal end to pass through the right atrium, right ventricle and into the pulmonary artery. A through lumen in the catheter tube is open at the distal end to monitor blood pressures in the pulmonary artery or a branch, or take blood samples. A thermistor proximal to the balloon permits monitoring of blood temperature in this region and thus allows the determination of cardiac output by the thermodilution technique. A second lumen has an orifice, which is characteristically located in the region of the junction of the superior vena cava and the right atrium, for pressure monitoring, infusion of liquid media, or blood sampling. A stylet in the second lumen assists in advancing the catheter and, by means of a sudden variation in stiffness, facilitates forming a sharp bend within the right ventricle to press distal electrodes against the myocardial wall which separates the left and right ventricles. Proximal electrodes on the catheter tube are positioned in the right atrium. In addition to the two lumens mentioned, a third lumen serves as a balloon inflation lumen and a fourth lumen contains the wires for the thermistor, distal electrodes and proximal electrodes.

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Los Angeles, CA, United States of America

William Ganz