Class / Patent application number | Description | Number of patent applications / Date published |
604950050 | Having remote control for applying light, electricity, or heat to alter conduit shape (e.g., shape memory alloy, etc.) | 17 |
20090024086 | Micro-steerable catheter - Micro-streerable catheters for use in delivering therapeutic treatment in the body, such as ablation and cauterization, and which exhibit precise movement are disclosed. Embodiments include electrical micro-catheters that comprise of electroactive polymers. A preferred embodiment includes a programmable catheter. | 01-22-2009 |
20090082723 | Medical devices and methods for their fabrication and use - An elongate device for introduction into a body lumen comprises a body extending in a longitudinal direction (L), and having at least two skeletal members ( | 03-26-2009 |
20090299280 | Catheter with Controllable Stiffness and Method for Operating a Selective Stiffening Catheter - A method and device for treating a Chronic Total Occlusion provides a controllable stiffness catheter with a shaft having a stiffness sheath and an access lumen. The device has a stiffness device in a stiff state below a given temperature and in a soft state above the temperature, a temperature-changing device in thermal contact with the stiffness device, the temperature-changing device changing a temperature of the stiffness device below and above the temperature, and a power controller electrically connected to the stiffness device and selectively supplying power to the temperature-changing device to change a stiffness of the stiffness device between the stiff and soft states. A guidewire is moved to a treatment site and the catheter moves along the guidewire up to CTO in its soft state. The catheter stiffens without straightening and, in the stiff state, the catheter or the guidewire is projecting through the CTO. | 12-03-2009 |
20090312700 | Device for Minimally Invasive Insertion into a Physiological Lumen - A device for the minimally invasive insertion into a lumen of a hollow organ comprises a hose-shaped wall ( | 12-17-2009 |
20100168667 | CATHETER HAVING PROXIMAL HEAT SENSITIVE DEFLECTION MECHANISM AND RELATED METHODS OF USE AND MANUFACTURING - Disclosed herein are various deflectable catheter systems that utilize materials having negative coefficients of thermal expansion to cause the catheter to deflect. A representative embodiment of the present invention includes a catheter having a heat-sensitive control member located outside the distal end of the catheter, but which is in mechanical communication with the distal end of the catheter such that heat may be applied to the control member to cause the distal portion to deflect. The applied heat, however, does not introduce any significant heat into the distal end of the catheter. The system may also include a processor to estimate an amount by which the catheter has been deflected based in part on temperature information of the control member, or even resistance measurements for the control member. The system may also include calibration systems and methods. Also disclosed herein are methods of use and methods of manufacturing system that utilize materials having negative coefficients of thermal expansion as control members. | 07-01-2010 |
20100318026 | Devices and Methods for Endovascular Electrography - An adapter for an endovascular device and a catheter steering device are provided. The adapter for an endovascular device includes a body, a conductive metal ring and a conductive wire. The body includes a first open end, a second open end, a central lumen having a substantially cylindrical surface extending from the first open end to the second open end, and a channel extending from the central lumen to an external opening. The conductive metal ring is attached to the surface of the central lumen, and the conductive wire is coupled to the conductive metal ring and extends through the channel and the external opening. The steering device for a catheter that has a plurality of lumens with spaced distal openings includes a stylet for disposition within one of the plurality of lumens, and a steering member for disposition within a different one of the plurality of lumens. In the installed position, the stylet and the steering member are connected together at respective distal ends such that a portion of the steering member is disposed outside of the distal end of the catheter. | 12-16-2010 |
20110054393 | Selectively Flexible Catheter and Method of Use - Catheter assembly including an elongate shaft comprising a thermoplastic polymer such as a thermoplastic shape memory polymer having a pre-selected glass transition temperature (Tg) and a means for heating the thermoplastic polymer, wherein the thermoplastic polymer is in a rubbery state at temperatures above the glass transition temperature and is in a glassy state at temperatures below the glass transition temperature. The elongate shaft may be selectively heated and cooled to provide sufficient flexibility and retention during a medical procedure. | 03-03-2011 |
20120123328 | GUIDE CATHETER COMPOSED OF SHAPE MEMORY POLYMER - A guide catheter includes a tubular section formed of a shape memory polymer that can transform dynamically between first and second states or conditions, or among three states or conditions, to provide a wide range of properties of the guide catheter as desired during delivery of the guide catheter through the vasculature to a target site, and removal of the guide catheter from the target site and vasculature. The states or conditions of the shape memory polymer be dynamically changed to vary properties of the tubular section such as stiffness, flexibility, shape, or biodegradability, which can be controlled by exposure of the shape memory polymer to temperature changes, electric fields, magnetic fields, wavelengths of light, and chemical solutions. | 05-17-2012 |
20120179097 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR AN ADJUSTABLE STIFFNESS CATHETER - Apparatus and methods for an endovascular catheter that can be inserted within tortuous body anatomies and then selectively stiffened and fixed in place. In a particular embodiment, this stiffness is reversible. The stiffness or a comparable mechanical characteristic of the catheter assembly may be adjusted to a relatively low value during insertion (so that it easily navigates a guide wire or the like), and then subsequently adjusted to a relatively high value in situ to keep the catheter assembly substantially fixed in place (i.e., during delivery of an interventional device). | 07-12-2012 |
20120265134 | NONCIRCULAR INNER LUMEN GUIDING CATHETER WITH ASSISTED VARIABLE SUPPORT - A noncircular inner lumen guiding catheter with assisted variable support has an inner wall defining a noncircular cross-sectional shaped lumen for use in delivery of multiple microcatheters or other devices for treatment of neurovascular defects, such as for treatment of aneurysms. The noncircular inner lumen guiding catheter with assisted variable support includes torque transmittal guidance walls that are flexible linearly but not circumferentially, and that are neither collapsible nor kinkable. The noncircular shaped cross-section of the inner lumen may extend along the entire length of the catheter or a portion thereof, including distal or proximal. | 10-18-2012 |
20120302950 | ACTIVE PLEURODESIS CATHETER - System and components for inducing pleurodesis. A tube device is provided that is generally inert in a first state. The device includes a second state that is configured to provide one or both of mechanical and chemical stimulation to induce pleurodesis. Different sheath and tube configurations are provided for the actuatable features of the device. | 11-29-2012 |
20130006173 | Reentry Catheter and Method Thereof - The invention generally relates to method and apparatus for crossing an obstruction in a tubular member, and more particularly to a medical device method for crossing of a chronic occlusion in a subintimal or interstitial space of an artery. | 01-03-2013 |
20130123692 | Steerable Medical Guide Wire Device - A steerable guide wire including one or more electroactive polymer layers, wherein each EAP layer is disposed between a layer of a first electrode and a layer of a plurality of second electrodes. | 05-16-2013 |
20130253424 | METHODS OF FABRICATING MULTI-DEGREE OF FREEDOM SHAPED ELECTROACTIVE POLYMER ACTUATORS/SENSORS FOR CATHETERS - Disclosed is a method of fabricating a multiple degree of freedom actuator with inter-digitated electrodes including molding an electroactive polymer membrane so that a plurality of projections are formed around a cross section of an outer surface of the polymer membrane; depositing a metal electrode layer onto the outer surface of the molded membrane; and removing the plurality of projections on the outer surface on the molded membrane, thereby forming a multiple degree of freedom actuator with a plurality of inter-digitated electrodes. Also provided are actuators as well as devices (such as catheters) including such actuators formed by the disclosed methods of fabricating an actuator with multiple DOF. | 09-26-2013 |
20130303981 | SHAPE MEMORY MATERIALS BY SURFACE MODIFICATION - Devices including a flexible substrate and a grafted polymer brush coating on at least one surface of the flexible substrate and methods for making and using such devices are provided herein. The grafted polymer brush included on the devices allow for controlled bending of the device during use. | 11-14-2013 |
20150065953 | CATHETER HAVING A STEERABLE TIP - A catheter includes an electromechanical polymer (EMP) actuator disposed in a steerable tip at the distal end of the catheter. When activated, the EMP actuator deflects the steerable tip through an angle between 0 and 270 degrees, thus permitting the operator to steer the steerable tip through the vasculature. The steerable tip also has at least a first relatively stiff region and a second relatively flexible region, and the EMP actuator is provided next to the first relatively stiff region so that the steerable tip may toward the flexible region when activated. In one implementation, an external interface allows a user to select by name one of many sets of control signals, with each set of control signals being signals calibrated for configuring the catheter to mimic a known catheter. | 03-05-2015 |
20150088061 | CATHETERIZATION DEVICE COMPRISING A CATHETER, WHICH HAS A DEFLECTABLE STEERING END, AND A CONTROL DEVICE FOR CONTROLLING THE CATHETER - A catheterization device including a catheter, which has a deflectable steering end, and a control device for controlling the steering end. In order to limit operating forces of the catheterization device, the control device has an energy store, which is coupled in a force-transmitting manner to a force transmission element of the control device. | 03-26-2015 |