A balloon catheter is described with features to reduce balloon stickiness thereby ensuring a more even inflation profile. In some embodiments, a balloon guide catheter is described which includes a conduit or passage for additional catheters or devices.

A medical device including a catheter body, a first elongate body, and a service loop ring. The catheter body has a catheter shaft. The first elongate body extends through at least part of the catheter shaft and is configured to move longitudinally in the catheter shaft. The first elongate body is looped through the service loop ring to form a service loop configured to expand and contract as the first elongate body moves longitudinally in the catheter shaft.

A balloon catheter includes a balloon/shaft assembly and a linear member. The balloon/shaft assembly includes a catheter shaft extending from a proximal end to a distal end and a balloon connected to the catheter shaft. The linear member straddles an inflatable region of the balloon and is mounted on the balloon/shaft assembly. The linear member includes a hard portion and a flexible portion. The hard portion includes at least an outer portion disposed on an opposite side to an inner portion facing the inflatable region, of a portion disposed along an outer peripheral surface of the inflatable region in an inflated state. The flexible portion is a portion other than the hard portion. The flexible portion is extendable and has a lower hardness than the hard portion.

An inflatable structure for use in biological lumens and methods of making and using the same are disclosed. The structure can have an inflatable balloon encircled by a shell. The shell can have proximal and distal tapered necks, longitudinally-oriented flutes, and apertures at the proximal and distal ends of the shell. The apertures can be recessed in the flutes in the necks. The shell can also have fiber reinforced walls.

A balloon catheter includes a balloon and an inner shaft. The inner shaft includes a marker member arranged on an outer periphery of a coil body having a sparsely wound portion in which gaps are formed between adjacent windings of the wire of the coil body. A distal end part and a proximal end part of the marker member are arranged at a position facing a void formed within one of the gaps between the adjacent windings of the wire of the coil body. The inner shaft of the balloon catheter therefore will not buckle, preventing damage to the balloon by contact with the marker member when the balloon catheter is passed through the inside of a curved blood vessel.

A tamponade for nasal cavities or sinus cavities for tamponading a cavity of the nasal tract in the region of an ostium leading to the cavity with uniform force, comprising a thin-walled balloon which is made from a soft foil-like, only slightly expandable, smoothly folding polyurethane material, with a wall thickness in the range of 5 to 50 m, which is already completely shaped with the required tamponade dimensions or greater at the time of production, and can therefore be expanded without application of filling pressure, and said balloon occupies the respective, generally irregular-shaped cavity and the ostium of same when in the filled condition, through the development of forces that are as uniform as possible on the structures exposed to the balloon in such a way that a distal segment of the balloon is located inside the cavity where a tamponade is to be applied, a proximal segment of the balloon is located upstream of the cavity and a transostial segment of the balloon extends through the ostium and connects the distal segment of the balloon to the proximal segment of the balloon, wherein the transostial segment of the balloon is tapered relative to the proximal and distal segments of the balloon in the deployed state of the balloon, and the nasal cavity or sinus cavity tamponade is anchored in the transition region and reliably secured in position.

A balloon catheter includes a flexible outer cylinder shaft, a holding member connected to a proximal end portion of the outer cylinder shaft, a sealing member that maintains liquid tightness incorporated in the holding member, a flexible inner cylinder shaft, a tube having a Rockwell hardness of R 115 or more, a flexural modulus of 3.0 to 4.5 GPa, and a thickness of 0.06 to 0.12 mm, a push-in member connected to a proximal end portion of the inner cylinder shaft, a pull-out prevention member connected to the push-in member, and a balloon composed of an elastic material and connected to each of the distal end portion of the outer cylinder shaft and the proximal end portion of the inner cylinder shaft, wherein the tube is inserted over the inner cylinder shaft over an area thereof except for a connecting portion between the balloon and the inner cylinder shaft.

An irrigated electrophysiology balloon catheter with flexible-circuit electrodes is disclosed. To help prevent fluids, e.g., irrigation fluid or air, from passing between a space between an inner tubular shaft and an outer tubular shaft of the catheter, a first seal and a second seal may be provided about locations where the inner tubular shaft emerges from the outer tubular shaft. The materials and dimensions of these seals are instrumental in ensuring that the seals are sufficiently robust such that they do not fail during use of the catheter. Additionally, the flexible-circuit electrodes may include substrates adhered to the balloon. Delamination of these substrates may be prevented by use of a reinforcement component that extends the length of the balloon.

A method may include accessing an artery in communication with an ophthalmic artery of a subject, and advancing a microcatheter along the accessed artery so as to align a distal end of the microcatheter with an ostium of the ophthalmic artery, wherein the microcatheter includes a lumen having a guidewire positioned therein. In addition, the method includes proximally withdrawing the guidewire relative to the microcatheter so as to enable a distal portion of the microcatheter to assume a curved relaxed configuration, and cannulating the ostium with the distal portion of the microcatheter when the distal portion is in the curved relaxed configuration.

The vascular occlusion balloon catheter has a balloon, a main lumen, and a balloon expanding lumen. The balloon catheter has an air discharge passage. The air discharge passage has a distal end opening located at a position distal from the balloon and a proximal end communicating with an inner portion of the balloon. The distal end opening of the air discharge passage is positioned inside a portion disposed proximally from a distal end of the balloon catheter. The air discharge passage communicates with the main lumen at the distal end opening of the air discharge passage. The area of a cross section of the air discharge passage orthogonal to an axial direction of the balloon catheter is set to 200 m.sup.2 to 450 m.sup.2. The length of the air discharge passage is set to 1.0 to 3.0 mm.