A system for aspirating thrombus including an aspiration catheter including a supply lumen and an aspiration lumen, the supply lumen having a proximal end and a distal end, the aspiration lumen having a proximal end and an open distal end. An opening at or adjacent the distal end of the supply lumen, in fluid communication with the interior of the aspiration lumen, is located proximally of the open distal end of the aspiration lumen. The opening is configured to create a jet when pressurized fluid is pumped through the supply lumen. A connector is hydraulically coupled to the proximal end of the aspiration lumen, the connector having an interior cavity, a proximal end and a distal end.

A method for removing thrombus from a patient, the method including providing an aspiration catheter having a supply lumen, an aspiration lumen, an opening at or adjacent a distal end of the supply lumen, and a connector hydraulically coupled to the aspiration lumen, the connector having an interior cavity. The method includes placing the aspiration catheter through an inner lumen of a guiding catheter and into the blood vessel, coupling the aspiration catheter to a fluid source and a vacuum source, causing an injection of fluid from the fluid source through the supply lumen via a first pump with the vacuum source actively coupled to the aspiration lumen, and determining that aspiration of the thrombus through the aspiration lumen is not occurring at a desired thrombus aspiration rate.

A system for aspirating thrombus including an aspiration catheter including a supply lumen, an aspiration lumen, an opening at or adjacent a distal end of the supply lumen, in fluid communication with an interior of the aspiration lumen, the opening located proximally of an open distal end of the aspiration lumen. The opening is configured to create a jet when pressurized fluid is pumped through the supply lumen. A connector is hydraulically coupled to the aspiration lumen, the connector having an interior cavity having an inner surface, a proximal end and a distal end, wherein the connector includes a first sideport communicating with the interior cavity of the connector and in fluid communication with the aspiration lumen, and wherein the first sideport includes the nearest significant interruption of the inner surface to the distal end of the connector.

A first connector configured for removable connection proximal to an aspiration catheter, the first connector comprising a body having an interior, a distal end comprising a connection configured to sealably couple to a aspiration lumen of the aspiration catheter, a proximal end comprising an openable and closable seal configured for sealing over a guidewire, an aspiration port in fluid communication with an interior of the body and configured to couple to a vacuum source, and a pressure sensor in fluid communication with the interior of the body.

A method for removing thrombus from a patient that includes providing an aspiration catheter including a supply lumen and an aspiration lumen, with a connector hydraulically coupled to the proximal end of the aspiration lumen, the connector having an interior cavity, a proximal end and a distal end. The method further includes coupling or causing to couple the supply lumen of the aspiration catheter to a fluid source, coupling or causing to couple the aspiration lumen of the aspiration catheter to a vacuum source, and coupling or causing to couple a pump for injecting fluid from the fluid source through the supply lumen and through the opening into the aspiration lumen. The method includes setting a pump with a control unit such that an input pressure of the supply lumen is between about 650 pounds per square inch and about 1200 pounds per square inch.

An inserter for guiding a device through a hemostasis valve. The inserter comprises an elongate tubular body, a concave landing zone, and an axially extending slit. The elongate body tubular body of the inserter partially defines a central lumen. A method a of passing a device through a valve comprises the steps of providing an inserter having a tubular body with a split sidewall, advancing the tubular body through a valve, advancing a device through the tubular body and beyond the valve and retracting the tubular body so that the device escapes laterally from the tubular body through the split sidewall, leaving the device in place across the valve.

Apparatus and methods are described for performing percutaneous catheter-based interventional surgery. The apparatus comprises first and second devices that are located in adjacent body cavities, such as adjacent blood vessels, the first device being capable of transmitting a directional signal that can be received by the second device. The direction of the signal is correlated with the facility to direct therapy, such that improved accuracy in therapy placement is thereby achieved. Methods for treating patients utilising the means and apparatus are also provided.

A system of devices for treating an artery includes an arterial access sheath adapted to introduce an interventional catheter into an artery and an elongated dilator positionable within the internal lumen of the sheath body. The system also includes a catheter formed of an elongated catheter body sized and shaped to be introduced via a carotid artery access site into a common carotid artery through the internal lumen of the arterial access sheath. The catheter has an overall length and a distal most section length such that the distal most section can be positioned in an intracranial artery and at least a portion of the proximal most section is positioned in the common carotid artery during use.

Devices, assemblies, systems, and techniques described herein may deliver a pressure wave to structures of a heart, such an aortic valve. For example, a medical assembly may include an expandable member configured to expand from a collapsed configuration to an expanded configuration, the expandable member configured to at least partially define a channel through the expandable member in the expanded configuration and one or more electrodes carried by the expandable member. The one or more electrodes may be configured to transmit an electrical signal through a fluid to cause the fluid to undergo cavitation that generates a pressure wave within the fluid.

A distal entry point (DEP) to brain aspiration (D2BA) catheter for use in an endovascular procedure for gaining access to cervical and cerebral arteries in a brain of a patient and aspirating one or more intracranial clots from the cerebral arteries, comprising a soft distal tip region having a distal length sufficient to extend from a level 1 or level 2 arterial segment of a cerebral artery or equivalent to an upper neck arterial vessel, a stiffness enabling movement through the level 1 or level 2 arterial segment of the cerebral artery, and an outside diameter (OD) of 6F-10F, a proximal region having a stiffness greater than the stiffness of the soft distal tip region, the proximal region having a length sufficient to extend to outside the patient through the DEP.