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:
Dec. 27, 2005
Filed:
May. 29, 2003
Nicholas J. Mourlas, Mountain View, CA (US);
Christian Scott Eversull, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Stephen Arie Leeflang, Stanford, CA (US);
Asha Shrinivas Nayak, Menlo Park, CA (US);
David John Miller, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Nicholas J. Mourlas, Mountain View, CA (US);
Christian Scott Eversull, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Stephen Arie Leeflang, Stanford, CA (US);
Asha Shrinivas Nayak, Menlo Park, CA (US);
David John Miller, Palo Alto, CA (US);
The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Abstract
An apparatus for locating morphological features within a body cavity includes a catheter including proximal and distal ends, a transparent balloon carried on the distal end, and an optical imaging assembly carried on the distal end for imaging through the balloon. The balloon includes a channel extending therethrough to a lumen extending through the catheter. A guidewire or other localization member is received in the lumen that is extendabe through the channel. During use, the catheter is inserted into a right atrium of a heart, and the balloon is expanded and placed against the wall of the heart to locate the coronary sinus. Sufficient force is applied to clear blood between the surface and the wall and clear the field of view of the imaging assembly. The catheter is manipulated to locate the coronary sinus, whereupon the localization member is advanced into the coronary sinus.