Surgery – Means for introducing or removing material from body for... – Treating material introduced into or removed from body...
Reexamination Certificate
2000-06-15
2003-07-01
Walberg, Teresa (Department: 3742)
Surgery
Means for introducing or removing material from body for...
Treating material introduced into or removed from body...
Reexamination Certificate
active
06585717
ABSTRACT:
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH
Not applicable.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to medical devices, and more particularly to steerable catheters.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Minimally invasive surgery is commonly performed by inserting relatively small instruments into the body, as well as organs within the body, through one or more very small incisions. Many instruments are rigid and are directed to a site of interest by angling the instrument through the incision and inserting the device to a selected depth within the body. However, rigid instruments are unacceptable for many procedures, and even less invasive procedures have been developed that employ flexible catheter-based instruments. Although early catheter devices simply followed the contours of a body passage, such as a blood vessel to a selected treatment site, catheters with movable tip portions were developed to provide simple catheter steering.
The present steerable catheters most commonly include one or more wires that are anchored at a first point near the distal tip of the catheter and at a second point at the proximal end of the catheter or in a handle unit. A lever or knob is actuated to apply or reduce tension on the one or more wires causing the distal tip of the catheter to be pulled in the direction of the tension. Although steering mechanisms such as these have provided excellent results, it is believed that even greater steering or deflection control would further increase the possibilities for new surgical procedures, It would be especially desirable if existing and well developed pull-wire technology could be employed with new structures to provide such enhanced capability.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention overcomes the limitations of known pull-wire steering mechanism to provide a deflection mechanism capable of deflecting portions of a flexible body, such as a catheter, in more than one direction in a single plane, as well as in more than one plane. The invention allows a distal portion of a catheter to be deflected more than 360 degrees to provide a loop.
In an exemplary embodiment, a deflection mechanism for a medical device includes rings and a connecting structure connecting the rings. The connecting structure can include a unitary structure or rod segments that connect adjacent rings. A second connecting structure can be provided that is radially spaced apart from the first connecting structure. A second group of rings, joined by another connecting mechanism can be provided so that the first rings deflect in a first plane and the second rings deflect in a second plane.
In another embodiment, a deflection mechanism for a medical device includes three planar shims defining three planes. Adjacent planar shims are joined so that the planes defined by each respective shim are different.
Yet another embodiment of a deflection mechanism for a medical device includes a deflection body having a longitudinal axis and two pairs of longitudinal elements secured to the deflection body at different locations.
Still another embodiment of the invention includes a catheter having a distal end and a pair of helically twisted elements extending longitudinally through the catheter proximate the distal end.
Another embodiment of the invention includes a catheter, a shape biased member disposed within the catheter, and a sheath slidably disposed over the catheter.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3470876 (1969-10-01), Barchilon
patent: 3524446 (1970-08-01), Crump et al.
patent: 3625200 (1971-12-01), Muller
patent: 4456017 (1984-06-01), Miles
patent: 4601705 (1986-07-01), McCoy et al.
patent: 4738659 (1988-04-01), Sleiman
patent: 4787399 (1988-11-01), Bonello et al.
patent: 4930494 (1990-06-01), Takehana et al.
patent: 4934340 (1990-06-01), Ebling et al.
patent: 4998923 (1991-03-01), Samson et al.
patent: 5003989 (1991-04-01), Taylor et al.
patent: 5108368 (1992-04-01), Hammerslag et al.
patent: 5114414 (1992-05-01), Buchbinder
patent: 5135531 (1992-08-01), Shiber
patent: 5170787 (1992-12-01), Lindegren
patent: 5271381 (1993-12-01), Ailinger et al.
patent: 5279559 (1994-01-01), Barr
patent: 5308324 (1994-05-01), Hammerslag et al.
patent: 5315996 (1994-05-01), Lundquist
patent: 5318041 (1994-06-01), DuBois et al.
patent: 5318525 (1994-06-01), West et al.
patent: 5322064 (1994-06-01), Lundquist
patent: 5327905 (1994-07-01), Avitall
patent: 5330466 (1994-07-01), Imran
patent: 5358479 (1994-10-01), Wilson
patent: 5368564 (1994-11-01), Savage
patent: 5370678 (1994-12-01), Edwards et al.
patent: 5383852 (1995-01-01), Stevens-Wright
patent: 5383923 (1995-01-01), Webster, Jr.
patent: 5389073 (1995-02-01), Imran
patent: 5391147 (1995-02-01), Imran et al.
patent: 5437288 (1995-08-01), Schwartz et al.
patent: 5441483 (1995-08-01), Avitall
patent: 5480382 (1996-01-01), Hammerslag et al.
patent: 5484407 (1996-01-01), Osypka
patent: 5489270 (1996-02-01), van Erp
patent: 5507725 (1996-04-01), Savage et al.
patent: 5545200 (1996-08-01), West et al.
patent: 5558665 (1996-09-01), Kieturakis
patent: 5562619 (1996-10-01), Mirarchi et al.
patent: 5571085 (1996-11-01), Accisano, III
patent: 5597378 (1997-01-01), Jervis
patent: 5603697 (1997-02-01), Grundy et al.
patent: 5611777 (1997-03-01), Bowden et al.
patent: 5617854 (1997-04-01), Munsif
patent: 5619993 (1997-04-01), Lee
patent: 5642736 (1997-07-01), Avitall
patent: 5645520 (1997-07-01), Nakamura et al.
patent: 5656029 (1997-08-01), Imran et al.
patent: 5662621 (1997-09-01), Lafontaine
patent: 5674197 (1997-10-01), van Muiden et al.
patent: 5676653 (1997-10-01), Taylor et al.
patent: 5715817 (1998-02-01), Stevens-Wright et al.
patent: 5755760 (1998-05-01), Maguire et al.
patent: 5807354 (1998-09-01), Kenda
patent: 5820591 (1998-10-01), Thompson et al.
patent: 5865800 (1999-02-01), Mirarchi et al.
patent: 5882329 (1999-03-01), Patterson et al.
patent: 5891088 (1999-04-01), Thompson et al.
patent: 5916178 (1999-06-01), Noone et al.
patent: 5931811 (1999-08-01), Haissaguerre et al.
patent: 6002955 (1999-12-01), Willems et al.
patent: 6033394 (2000-03-01), Vidlund et al.
patent: 6045530 (2000-04-01), Krueger et al.
patent: 6066125 (2000-05-01), Webster, Jr.
patent: 6110164 (2000-08-01), Vidlund
patent: 0605796 (1994-07-01), None
patent: 0790066 (1997-08-01), None
patent: WO 93/20767 (1993-10-01), None
patent: WO 95/10318 (1995-04-01), None
patent: WO 95/10319 (1995-04-01), None
Carroll Sean
Petre Cristian
Thibault Benoit
Wittenberger Dan
Christopher & Weisberg P.A.
CryoCath Technologies Inc.
Robinson Daniel
LandOfFree
Deflection structure does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Deflection structure, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Deflection structure will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3108832