Patent Application
20110137293
The present invention relates to a guiding catheter.
A guiding catheter is used in various interventions for conveying a treatment devices to a treatment portion through a body passage such as a blood vessel.
An ideal guiding catheter must have the following characteristics: the guiding catheter must be inserted into a target vessel in a stable state, and sufficiently secure an internal cavity to easily introduce and remove various catheter and surgical instruments. In addition, when various instruments such as a stent, a balloon angioplasty catheter, etc. are inserted, the guiding catheter must be securely maintained in the vessel without any position change, and the guiding catheter must not cause vasospasm or damage to the vessel.
However, the guiding catheter that is currently on the market has several problems. In particular, in the case of a cerebrovascular or coronary intervention, since finer operations to a distal part are currently needed, there are several problems that cannot be easily solved by the current guiding catheter only. The problems of the guiding catheter that is currently on the market are as follows:
1. While a distal end of the guiding catheter is too rigid such that original characteristics of the guiding catheter can be maintained, vasospasm occurs frequently, and guidance to the far distal vessels is difficult especially when the vessels have smaller diameter and/or tortuous.
2. In the case of a tortuous vessel, guidance of the distal part is impossible. In addition, when the guiding catheter goes through a tortuous part, the vessel may be forcedly kinked to cause temporary occlusion of the vessel.
3. The smallest outer diameter of an available guiding catheter is 5 Fr. When the guiding catheter is inserted into a vessel having a small inner diameter such as a vertebral artery, etc., spasm, occlusion or damage to the vessel may occur.
4. When a stent is inserted into the intracranial vessels, in addition to being securely guided, there are many cases where a guiding catheter is guided beyond a generally-guided position, but this may be impossible in some patients. 5. When the vessel has a small diameter, insertion of the guiding catheter may cause occlusion of normal blood flow.
In order to solve the foregoing and/or other problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a guiding catheter capable of easily performing various operations in a vessel, and inserting a catheter to the closest part of a target vessel when an intervention in the vessel is performed.
The foregoing and/or other aspects of the present invention may be achieved by providing a guiding catheter in which a blood flow circulation hole is formed in a side surface of a catheter to maintain normal blood flow of a target organ when the distal segment of a guiding catheter causes occlusion of blood flow.
In addition, the number of circulation holes may be at least one depending on necessity, and the size and shape of the blood flow circulation hole are not particularly limited as long as blood flow can be normally maintained.
Further, the catheter may have a minimized thickness while having a maximized inner diameter to provide a sufficient lumen to perform operations in a vessel and having sufficient flexibility for easy adaptation to the tortuous vessels.
According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a guiding catheter having a large inner diameter capable of easily performing various operations in a vessel, and inserting a catheter to the closest part of a target vessel when an intervention in the vessel which can be tortuous is performed.
The above and other aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of exemplary embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:
Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the following embodiments can be readily understood and modified into various types, and the scope of the present invention is not limited to the embodiments.
The guiding catheter in accordance with the exemplary embodiment of the present invention has a large inner diameter such that various operations in the vessel can be easily performed, and the catheter can be inserted into the closest portion of the target vessel when an intervention in the vessel is performed.
Hereinafter, a specification of an embodiment of the far-reaching guiding catheter in accordance with the present invention will be described with reference to
A body part 130 of the catheter is formed of a hard material, and has characteristics of the guiding catheter (a proximal part: 40 to 50 cm).
The distal part 110 of the catheter is formed of a very flexible and soft material (the distal part: 15 to 20 cm).
A transition part 120 between the body part and the distal part is formed of a material more flexible than the body part, and less flexible than the distal part (an intermediate part: 45 to 55 cm).
A circulation hole 111 for maintaining blood flow is formed at a portion between 5 and 20 cm from an end of the distal part.
The guide catheter in accordance with the exemplary embodiment of the present invention has an inner diameter between 0.056 and 0.072 inches.
The circulation hole 111 for maintaining a blood flow may be one or more, and the size and shape thereof are not particularly limited as long as blood flow can be maintained. Preferably, a diameter thereof may be between 0.5 and 1 mm.
Major characteristics of the guiding catheter in accordance with the exemplary embodiment of the present invention are as follows: since flexibility of a certain segment of the distal part is maximally increased, and friction is minimized to provide an anatomically tortuous structure, the catheter can be guided to a distal part such as a distal part of an internal carotid artery or a vertebral artery of a C1-2 segment part. In addition, it is possible to prevent damage to a vessel wall or friction with the vessel wall when a surgical material passes through a vessel portion in which the guiding catheter is not inserted, depending on the surgical material.
This invention may be embodied in different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. As described above, although the preferable embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that substitutions, modifications and variations may be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the general inventive concept, the scope of which is defined in the appended claims and their equivalents.
As can be seen from the foregoing, a guiding catheter of the present invention can be used in various vascular interventions that are performed through a body passage, and in particular, in a cerebrovascular intervention in which a finer surgery to the distal part is needed. The guiding catheter may be inserted into the closest part of a target vessel to easily perform various operations in a vessel. And, the guiding catheter includes a circular hole for blood circulation to secure normal blood flow of a target organ when a blood flow occlusion phenomenon due to reduction in inner diameter of the vessel due to the distal part of the catheter occurs.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20-2008-0010804 | Aug 2008 | KR | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/KR2009/004538 | 8/13/2009 | WO | 00 | 2/9/2011 |
