Atherectomy device

Claim 2

A surgical apparatus for removing deposits from an interior of a vessel comprising; a rotatable shaft; a rotatable tip having a longitudinal axis and mounted to the rotatable shaft, the tip being rotatable about its longitudinal axis upon rotation of the shaft to remove deposits from the interior of the vessel, the tip further having a distal portion, a proximal portion and an intermediate portion between the distal and proximal portions, the intermediate portion defined by a plurality of transverse cross-sectional areas, each transverse cross-sectional area defining first and second axes substantially perpendicular to each other to define a width dimension along a first axis and a height dimension along the second axis, the height dimension being greater than the width dimension.

Claim 3

The surgical apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the height progressively increases towards the proximal portion and the width progressively decreases toward the proximal portion.

Claim 4

The surgical apparatus of claim 2 , further comprising an opening in a sidewall of the tip for aspiration of removed deposits.

Claim 5

The surgical apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the distal portion has a bullet shaped nose.

Claim 6

The surgical apparatus of claim 2 , further comprising a plurality of longitudinally extending grooves formed in an outer surface of the tip to form an ablation surface.

Claim 7

A surgical apparatus for removing deposits such as plaque from an interior of a vessel, comprising: a rotatable shaft having a lumen extending therethrough dimensioned to receive a guidewire; a tip having a longitudinal axis and mounted on the rotatable shaft for rotation about its longitudinal axis upon rotation of the shaft, the tip having a distal portion, a proximal portion and an intermediate portion between the distal and proximal portions, the tip including a guidewire lumen for receiving a guidewire to enable over the wire insertion of the shaft and tip, the distal portion of the tip being substantially circular in cross-section and the intermediate and proximal portions being non-circular in cross-section.

Claim 8

A surgical apparatus for removing deposits such as plaque from an interior of a vessel, comprising: a rotatable shaft having a lumen extending therethrough dimensioned to receive a guidewire; a tip having a longitudinal axis and mounted on the rotatable shaft for rotation about its longitudinal axis upon rotation of the shaft, the tip having a distal portion, a proximal portion and an intermediate portion between the distal and proximal portions, the tip including a guidewire lumen for receiving a guidewire to enable over the wire insertion of the shaft and tip, the distal portion of the tip being substantially circular in cross-section and the intermediate and proximal portions being non-circular in cross-section.

Claim 9

The surgical apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the non-circular cross-section of the intermediate and proximal portions is defined by first and second opposing walls separated by a first distance and third and fourth opposing walls separated by a second distance, the first distance being greater than the second distance.

Claim 10

The surgical apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the first distance progressively increases towards the proximal portion and the second distance progressively decreases towards the proximal portion.

Claim 11

The surgical apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the third and fourth walls have a substantially linear portion.

Claim 12

The surgical apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the first and second walls are curved.

Claim 13

The surgical apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the distal portion has a bullet nose configuration.

Claim 14

The surgical apparatus of claim 7 , further comprising an opening in a sidewall of the tip for removing the removed deposits.

Claim 15

The surgical apparatus of claim 7 , further comprising a plurality of longitudinally extending cutting grooves formed in an outer surface of the tip.

Claim 16

A vascular surgical apparatus for removing deposits such as plaque from a vessel comprising: a rotatable shaft with a distal section; a distal tip mounted on the distal section and rotatable upon rotation of the shaft to remove deposits in a circumferential area determined by a major diameter of the distal tip as it rotates on its axis, wherein the distal tip has a proximal portion, a distal portion and an intermediate portion between the proximal and distal portions, wherein each transverse cross-section of the tip defines a circumference, a first diameter, and a second diameter substantially orthogonal to the first diameter, the first diameter of the intermediate portion being greater than the first diameter of the distal portion and the circumference at the distal portion being substantially equal to the circumference at the intermediate portion.

Claim 17

A vascular surgical apparatus for removing deposits such as plaque from a vessel comprising: a rotatable shaft with a distal section; a distal tip mounted on the distal section and rotatable upon rotation of the shaft to remove deposits in a circumferential area determined by a major diameter of the distal tip as it rotates on its axis, wherein the distal tip has a proximal portion, a distal portion and an intermediate portion between the proximal and distal portions, wherein each transverse cross-section of the tip defines a circumference, a first diameter, and a second diameter substantially orthogonal to the first diameter, the first diameter of the intermediate portion being greater than the first diameter of the distal portion and the circumference at the distal portion being substantially equal to the circumference at the intermediate portion.

Claim 18

The surgical apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the first diameter of the intermediate portion is greater than a second diameter of the intermediate portion.

Claim 19

The surgical apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the intermediate portion has opposing scalloped portions to form the smaller second diameter region.

Claim 20

The surgical apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the first diameter of the distal portion is substantially equal to the second diameter of the distal portion.

Claim 21

The surgical apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the smaller second diameter is formed by opposing scalloped regions of the intermediate and proximal portions.

Claim 22

The surgical apparatus of claim 12 , further comprising a plurality of longitudinally extending cutting grooves formed in an outer surface of the distal tip.

Claim 23

A surgical apparatus for removing deposits from an interior of a vessel, comprising: a rotatable shaft having a lumen extending therethrough dimensioned to receive a guidewire; a distal tip having a longitudinal axis and mounted on the rotatable shaft and rotatable about its longitudinal axis upon rotation of the shaft to remove deposits in an circumferential area determined by a major diameter of the distal tip as it rotates on its axis, the tip having a distal portion, a proximal portion and an intermediate portion between the distal and proximal portions, the distal tip including a guidewire lumen for receiving a guidewire, the distal portion being circular in cross-section and the intermediate and proximal portions being non-circular in cross-section, the non-circular cross section defined by first and second opposing curved walls defining a first distance therebetween, and third and fourth opposing walls each having a substantially straight side and defining a second distance therebetween, wherein the first distance is greater than the second distance, and wherein each transverse cross-section of the tip defines a circumference, the first distance between opposing walls of the intermediate section being greater than the first distance between opposing walls of the distal section and the circumference at the distal section being equal to the circumference at the intermediate portion.

Claim 24

A surgical apparatus for removing deposits from an interior of a vessel, comprising: a rotatable shaft having a lumen extending therethrough dimensioned to receive a guidewire; a distal tip having a longitudinal axis and mounted on the rotatable shaft and rotatable about its longitudinal axis upon rotation of the shaft to remove deposits in an circumferential area determined by a major diameter of the distal tip as it rotates on its axis, the tip having a distal portion, a proximal portion and an intermediate portion between the distal and proximal portions, the distal tip including a guidewire lumen for receiving a guidewire, the distal portion being circular in cross-section and the intermediate and proximal portions being non-circular in cross-section, the non-circular cross section defined by first and second opposing curved walls defining a first distance therebetween, and third and fourth opposing walls each having a substantially straight side and defining a second distance therebetween, wherein the first distance is greater than the second distance, and wherein each transverse cross-section of the tip defines a circumference, the first distance between opposing walls of the intermediate section being greater than the first distance between opposing walls of the distal section and the circumference at the distal section being equal to the circumference at the intermediate portion.

Claim 28

The method of claim 22 , further comprising the step of removing the deposits through a side port in the tip.