Surgery – Means for introducing or removing material from body for... – Treating material introduced into or removed from body...
Reexamination Certificate
1998-09-18
2001-01-30
Nguyen, A. T. (Department: 3763)
Surgery
Means for introducing or removing material from body for...
Treating material introduced into or removed from body...
C604S528000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06179809
ABSTRACT:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is related to application Ser. No. 09/156,963, entitled “STEERABLE CATHETER WITH TIP ALIGNMENT AND SURFACE CONTACT DETECTOR”, filed simultaneously with the present invention.
FIELD OF INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to drug delivery catheters and catheter procedures involving functional devices. More particularly, the invention relates to a steerable drug delivery catheter and method of use, particularly adapted for percutaneous use. The distal tip of the catheter for guiding a drug delivery device or other functional device extendable there through, is deflectable in at least one given plane. The invention includes an automatic catheter tip alignment system for maintaining constant relative positioning between the distal tip of the functional device and the distal tip of the steerable drug delivery catheter.
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
The human heart is a muscular dual pump that beats continuously throughout life sending blood to the lungs and the rest of the body. The interior of the heart consists of four distinct chambers. The septum, a thick central muscular wall, divides the cavity into right and left halves. On the right side, the upper half is known as the right atrium. Deoxygenated blood from the rest of the body arrives in the right atrium via the vena cava, the blood is pumped across a one-way valve known as the tricuspid valve into the lower portion known as the right ventricle. From there the blood circulates to the lungs through the pulmonary valve via the pulmonary artery where it is oxygenated by circulation through the alveoli of the lungs (not shown). The blood returns via the pulmonary veins to the left atrium and flows through a second valve, the mitral valve into the left ventricle where it is pumped via the aorta to the rest of the body.
Much of the heart consists of a special type of muscle called myocardium. The myocardium requires a constant supply of oxygen and nutrients to allow it to contract and pump blood throughout the vasculature. The inner surfaces of the chambers of the heart are lined with a smooth membrane, the endocardium, and the entire heart is enclosed in a tough, membranous bag known as the pericardial sac.
Though the heart supplies blood to all other parts of the body, the heart itself has relatively little communication with the oxygenated blood supply. Thus, the two coronary arteries, the left coronary artery and the right coronary artery, arise from the aorta and encircle the heart muscle on either side “like a crown” to supply the heart itself with blood.
Heart disorders are a common cause of death in developed countries. They also impair the quality of life of millions of people and restrict activity by causing pain, breathlessness, fatigue, fainting spells and anxiety. The major cause of heart disease in developed countries is impaired blood supply. The coronary arteries become narrowed due to atherosclerosis and part of the heart muscle is deprived of oxygen and other nutrients. The resulting ischemia or blockage can lead to angina pectoris, a pain in the chest, arms or jaw due to lack of oxygen to the heart's myocardium, infarction or tissue necrosis in myocardial tissue.
Techniques to supplement the flow of oxygenated blood directly from the left ventricle into the myocardial tissue have included needle acupuncture to create transmural channels (see below) and implantation of T-shaped tubes into the myocardium. Efforts to graft the omentum, parietal pericardium, or mediastinal fat to the surface of the heart had limited success. Others attempted to restore arterial flow by implanting the left internal mammary artery into the myocardium.
Modernly, coronary artery blockage can be relieved in a number of ways. Drug therapy, including nitrates, beta-blockers, and peripheral vasodilator drugs (to dilate the arteries) or thrombolytic drugs (to dissolve clots) can be very effective. If drug treatment fails, transluminal angioplasty is often indicated - the narrowed part of the artery, clogged with atherosclerotic plaque or other deposits, can be stretched apart by passing a balloon to the site and gently inflating it a certain degree. In the event drug therapy is ineffective or angioplasty is too risky (introduction of a balloon in an occluded artery can cause portions of the atherosclerotic material to become dislodged which may cause a total blockage at a point downstream of the subject occlusion, thereby requiring emergency procedures), the procedure known as coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) is the most common and successful major heart operation performed, with over 500,000 procedures done annually in America alone. A length of vein is removed from another part of the body. The section of vein is first sewn to the aorta and then sewn onto a coronary artery at a place such that oxygenated blood can flow directly into the heart. CABG typically is performed in an open chest surgical procedure, although recent advances suggest minimally invasive surgery (MIS) techniques may also be used.
Other less intrusive treatments include angioplasty and the use of stents.
Another method of improving myocardial blood supply is called myocardial revascularization, the creation of channels in the myocardium of the heart (TMR), or creation of channels form the endocardium into myocardium (PTMR).
Percutaneous catheter procedures are typically less traumatic to the patient compared to surgical procedures and offers an alternative solution to persons who are not candidates for surgical procedures. Percutaneous procedures require the ability to steer a catheter apparatus through the vasculature and maneuver the apparatus at the selected site without the undue stress of a lengthy procedure.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,190,050 issued Mar. 2, 1993 to Nitzsche teaches a steerable catheter with a handle and a tube, the distal tip of which may be selectively curved by controllably moving one of three flat, sandwiched shims relative to the others by manipulation of a handle portion.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,358,479 issued Oct. 25, 1994 to Wilson, incorporated herein in its entirety by reference, teaches another steerable catheter with a handle and an inner tube, the apparatus having a single elongated, substantially flat shim spring mounted within the tip of the catheter tube, the shim having at least one transverse or lateral twist which causes the tip of the catheter tube to assume a desired curvature.
Drug therapies with angiogenic growth factors may expedite and/or augment collateral artery development. U.S. Pat. No. 5,498,238 issued Mar. 12, 1996 to Shapland et al., discloses a method of simultaneous angioplasty and drug delivery to localized portions of arteries. The patent teaches the use of an expandable balloon end type catheter which can be filled with a drug-containing fluid and which is allowed to permeate through a semi-permeable membrane of the balloon-tip end and thereby be delivered directly to the surface of arteriosclerotic lesions on stenosed arteries.
A great deal of published scientific information concerning therapeutic agents is currently available on the internet. One company, Annual Reviews is located at http://www.annurev.org. A list of genetically engineered and/or naturally occurring drugs or other agents having pharmacological , therapeutic, diagnostic or other utility is located at http://www.annurev.org/sup/im/im15/im15b.htm. Additional scientific information is available at http://darwin.bio.uci.edu/~cchughes/index.html.
Drug devices also include viewing devices for cardiac interventional procedures. U.S. Pat. No. 4,784,133 issued Nov. 15, 1988 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,976,710 issued Dec. 11, 1990, both to Mackin, both teach of a flexible angioscope/bronchoscope device with an inflatable balloon structure for viewing intravasculature structures. These flexible catheter devices include a ported working channel for introduction of a working device and positioning of the working device at the viewing/treatment distal end.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,350,148 issued Sep. 21, 1982 to Siva
Harman Stuart D.
Horzewski Michael J.
Khairkhahan Alexander
Mueller Richard L.
Murphy-Chutorian Douglas R.
Carothers Ross M.
Eclipse Surgical Technologies Inc.
Janofsky Ilene Lapidus
Nguyen A. T.
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