A urinary catheter may include a catheter shaft and a connector coupled with the proximal end of the catheter shaft. The connector may have a first arm ending in a fluid outlet configured to allow urine to flow out of the urinary catheter and a second arm with an aperture and ending in an inflation inlet used for introducing inflation fluid into the urinary catheter. The catheter may further include a primary lumen, an inflation lumen, a retention balloon mounted to the catheter shaft proximal to a fluid inlet and over a distal filling hole, and a pilot balloon mounted on the second arm of the connector over the aperture. The pilot balloon inflates at an inflation pressure that is higher than the inflation pressure of the retention balloon and lower than a predetermined pressure threshold.

Ablation catheters and systems include coaxial catheter shafts with an inner lumen for delivering an ablative agent and an outer lumen for circulation of a cooling element about the catheter. Induction heating is used to heat a chamber and vaporize a fluid within by wrapping a coil about a ferromagnetic chamber and providing an alternating current to the coil. A magnetic field is created in the area surrounding the chamber which induces electric current flow in the chamber, heating the chamber and vaporizing the fluid inside. Positioning elements help maintain the device in the proper position with respect to the target tissue and also prevent the passage of ablative agent to normal tissues.

Devices and methods for balloon delivery of rapamycin and other hydrophobic compounds to the wall of blood vessels. Balloon catheters, such as those used for stent deployment, are modified with the addition of a reservoir of dry micelles. The micelle preparation is reconstituted and the micelles are mobilized when the aqueous solution used to inflate the balloons is injected into the catheter. The micelles are infused into tissue surrounding the balloon when pressurized fluid within the balloon leaks through the wall of the balloon.

A rectal drainage appliance is disclosed comprising a tubular element having an inflatable balloon at a distal end for anchoring the appliance in the rectum. The appliance includes one or more of: (i) first and second auxiliary lumens communicating with the inflatable balloon to provide independent inflation and pressure monitoring paths coupled to the balloon; (ii) a pressure state indicator defined by a mechanical element configured to flip between first and second states or shapes responsive to sensed pressure; and (iii) a collapsible auxiliary lumen larger than the inflation lumen, and configured to permit admission of irrigation fluid. The pressure state indicator may also be used in intestinal drains.

A patient in whom blood diversion due to cerebral venous steal is present, and abolishment of the cerebral venous steal is indicated, is treated by increasing the cerebral venous pressure in the patient. This increase in cerebral venous pressure restores the collapsed cerebral vasculature, thereby increasing cerebral blood flow. The increase in cerebral venous pressure may be achieved using an occluding catheter in the superior vena cava or the internal jugular veins, using external compression of the cervical veins, or any other suitable mechanism. The occlusion may be controlled precisely during treatment, possibly as a function of cerebral blood flow, and after treatment the patient may experience a persistent effect because the cerebral vasculature is no longer collapsed.

A device for dilating an ostium of a paranasal sinus of a human or animal subject may include: a handle; an elongate shaft having a proximal end coupled with the handle and extending to a distal end; a guidewire disposed through at least a portion of the shaft lumen; a dilator having a non-expanded configuration and an expanded configuration; and a slide member coupled with at least one of the guidewire or the dilator through the longitudinal opening of the shaft for advancing the guidewire and/or the dilator relative to the shaft.

A device for reducing pressure within a lumen includes a reservoir structured for holding a fluid therein, an injection port in fluid communication with the reservoir, a compliant body structured to expand and contract upon changes in pressure, and a conduit extending between and fluidly coupling the reservoir and the compliant body. The fluid may be a compressible or a noncompressible fluid.

Retrieval of material from vessel lumens can be improved by electrically enhancing attachment of the material to the thrombectomy system. The system can include a catheter having a distal portion configured to be positioned adjacent to a thrombus in a blood vessel, an electrode disposed at the distal portion of the catheter, and an interventional element configured to be delivered through a lumen of the catheter. The electrode and the interventional element are each configured to be electrically coupled to an extracorporeal power supply.

Disclosed is a system and method for the placement of elongate medical members within a patients body using coaptive ultrasound. In a particularly preferred embodiment, a flexible tube includes a first balloon at a distal end of the tube, and a second balloon at the distal end of the tube and positioned within the first balloon. The first and second balloons are inflatable to form one or more echogenic windows between them, which echogenic window may be detected from within a patient's body by an ultrasound probe that is external to the patient's body. Detection of such echogenic window is used to identify an acceptable location on the patient's body at which to insert a guidewire configured to receive an elongate medical member without damage to surrounding patient tissues or organs.

A resiliently expandable elongate tubular spring structure, e.g., corresponding to a metal mesh type structure, mountable or mounted to a scoring balloon catheter includes multiple ring structures that are longitudinally separated from each other along portions of a balloon working region, and which are resiliently radially expandable in response to outwardly directed balloon expansion forces. Pairwise adjacent ring structures are structurally coupled and separated from each other by a scoring link, e.g., a single scoring link, configured as a traumatic structure with respect to vascular tissue, e.g., by way of having a square, trapezoidal, or raised blade tissue scoring/cutting profile. Each ring structure includes a pair of radially resiliently radially expandable annular springs, longitudinally separated from each other by a plurality of spacing elements, e.g., wire links, and which are atraumatic or substantially atraumatic structures relative to the scoring link with respect to tissue.