The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 08, 1997
Filed:
Oct. 06, 1995
Aubrey M Palestrant, Paradise Valley, AZ (US);
Other;
Abstract
An apparatus and method for establishing a collapsible infusion conduit in a blood vessel includes a catheter formed as a normally-flattened tube of flexible, collapsible plastic. When placed in a blood vessel, the catheter collapses to a flattened configuration for lying along the wall of the blood vessel to avoid obstruction to blood flow. During infusion, infusion fluid expands the catheter to a generally oval flow path. The catheter may be initially placed in the blood vessel by pre-loading the catheter over a guide wire and inserting the catheter and guide wire through an introducer sheath into the blood vessel. Infusion fluid is thereafter applied to the trailing end of the catheter to expand the catheter to facilitate withdrawal of the guide wire. Alternatively, the leading end of the catheter may initially be sealed, and placement into the blood vessel is achieved through an introducer sheath by inflating the catheter with pressurized fluid to temporarily render the catheter rigid and generally oval. The seal at the leading end of the catheter is thereafter opened, either by inserting a guide wire into the catheter to pierce the sealed end, or by increasing the inflation pressure to burst a weakened break line formed at the leading end of the catheter.