Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 6
Claim 1
Independent Claim
152 words
An atherectomy system for cutting, ingesting and removing an obstruction from within a patient's artery, comprising in combination: a flexible guide-wire insertable into the artery, a flexible rotary catheter being rotatably disposed and insertable into the artery, over said flexible guide-wire, a blade at a distal end of said flexible rotary catheter for cutting an obstruction located in front of said blade, said blade having teeth on its periphery which are rounded and bent toward the center of the blade and an outer wall for slidingly and rotatably bearing against the artery, a rotating inner-wall formed by the inside surfaces of said flexible rotary catheter and said blade, a continuous passage surrounding said flexible guide-wire for ingesting the cut obstruction material, said continuous passage being defined between said rotating inner-wall and said flexible guide-wire, coupling means at said proximal end of said flexible rotary catheter for coupling it to a rotating means.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
152 words
An atherectomy system for cutting, ingesting and removing an obstruction from within a patient's artery, comprising in combination: a flexible guide-wire insertable into the artery, a flexible rotary catheter being rotatably disposed and insertable into the artery, over said flexible guide-wire, a blade at a distal end of said flexible rotary catheter for cutting an obstruction located in front of said blade, said blade having teeth on its periphery which are rounded and bent toward the center of the blade and an outer wall for slidingly and rotatably bearing against the artery, a rotating inner-wall formed by the inside surfaces of said flexible rotary catheter and said blade, a continuous passage surrounding said flexible guide-wire for ingesting the cut obstruction material, said continuous passage being defined between said rotating inner-wall and said flexible guide-wire, coupling means at said proximal end of said flexible rotary catheter for coupling it to a rotating means.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
30 words
An atherectomy system as in claim 1, wherein suction is applied at said proximal end of said continuous passage to proximally pull the cut obstruction material in said continuous passage.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
29 words
An atherectomy system as in claim 1, said flexible guide-wire having distal barrier means to counter distal movement of surrounding obstruction material while said blade cuts the obstruction material.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
14 words
An atherectomy system as in claim 1, said flexible guide-wire containing an optical fiber.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
33 words
An atherectomy system as in claim 1, wherein said flexible rotary catheter has a higher torque carrying capacity in the vicinity of said proximal end than in the vicinity of said distal end.