Spray catheter

Details Spray catheter Spray catheter

1998-07-29

2001-11-20

Kennedy, Sharon (Department: 3763)

Surgery

Instruments

Cyrogenic application

C604S523000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06319248

ABSTRACT:

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
Not applicable.
STATEMENTS REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH
Not applicable.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to medical devices, and more particularly to minimally invasive surgical devices.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Cold fluid such as liquified nitrogen, can be topically applied to living tissue or growths thereon to freeze or ablate an area of tissue. However, topical application of coolant is typically only suitable for easily accessible areas of the body, such as the skin where the application of the fluid is commonly performed with a cotton swab.
Recent advances in the cryosurgical arts provide for the use of rigid applicators such as probes, through which a cool fluid circulates and wherein the outside wall of the probe is applied directly to a treatment site. However, it is difficult, if not impossible to apply a rigid applicator to the entirety of an irregular surface. Other prior art topical applicators such as the type having large “oil can” type coolant containers may provide better overall coverage than a cold probe but these “oil can” types by virtue of their size and rigidity, provide limited accessibility to subcutaneous regions of the body.
It would be desirable to have a device which could be utilized with current minimally invasive techniques to apply a coolant to internal tissues surfaces.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention overcomes the shortcomings of the prior art by providing a spray catheter adapted for minimally invasive application that is particularly well suited for treating large and/or irregular surface areas. The spray catheter includes a flexible catheter member with a spray tip, the flexible catheter member having a cryogenic fluid path through the flexible member to the spray tip.
The spray catheter of the invention can be a component in a cryogenic system that further includes a cryogenic fluid supply in communication with the spray catheter, and an integrated fluid controller for regulating the flow of the cryogenic fluid into the spray catheter. The cryogenic fluid can be a gas, a liquid, a liquified gas or a combination of these and is preferably a biocompatible refrigerant such as carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, liquid nitrogen or a combination of different gases.
The spray catheter would be able perform varying size ablations on both uniform and irregular tissue surfaces. The spray catheter would be appropriately used in areas of the body where the release of coolant is not contraindicated.


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