A treatment method involves introducing a catheter into a blood vessel in an arm of the patient and is advanced to position the distal end of the catheter in a blood vessel in a lower limb on one side of the patient's body. A treatment device is inserted into the catheter and advanced to a treatment target in the lower limb on the one side of the patient's body. The catheter is then moved to shift the distal end of the catheter from the blood vessel in the lower limb on the one side of the patient's body to a blood vessel in the lower limb on the other side of the patient's body. A treatment instrument can then be introduced into the catheter and advanced to carry out treatment on a treatment target in the lower limb on the other side of the patient's body.

The present disclosure teaches a novel medical device and method of use, employing a unique shape that allows the device to use the lesser (inferior) curve of aortic Arch as a fulcrum of support for a guide catheter, for subsequent prevention of recoil and displacement thereof, while delivering additional catheters or devices into the distal branches of the great vessels. A method for using same.

One aspect of an intravascular ventricular assist device is an implantable blood pump where the pump includes a housing defining a bore having an axis, one or more rotors disposed within the bore, each rotor including a plurality of magnetic poles, and one or more stators surrounding the bore for providing a magnetic field within the bore to induce rotation of each of the one or more rotors. Another aspect of the invention includes methods of providing cardiac assistance to a mammalian subject as, for example, a human. Further aspects of the invention include rotor bodies having helical channels formed longitudinally along the length of the body of the rotor where each helical channel is formed between peripheral support surface areas facing radially outwardly and extending generally in circumferential directions around the rotational axis of the rotor.

An adaptive guiding device includes a hollow flexible catheter, which is pre-shaped and has a bend in a natural state. The distal part of the flexible catheter includes a distal section, the distal section includes a transition segment and a straight segment, the transition segment is bendable so as to change an orientation of the straight segment, and a bending force application point is adjacent to a connection of the transition segment with the straight segment.

Apparatus and methods are described including a left-ventricular assist device that includes a pump-outlet tube shaped to define one or more blood-outlet openings and configured for insertion, through an aorta of a subject, into a left ventricle of a heart of the subject such that the pump-outlet tube traverses an aortic valve of the subject with the blood-outlet openings being disposed within the aorta. A blood pump is disposed at least partly within a distal portion of the pump-outlet tube and is configured to pump blood of the subject proximally through the pump-outlet tube. A proximal end of the pump-outlet tube is folded inwardly so as to define one or more surfaces configured to direct the blood through the blood-outlet openings by virtue of being oblique with respect to a longitudinal axis of the pump-outlet tube. Other applications are also described.

A system allows for collection and re-use of a fluid medium derived from diverting at least some of the fluid medium of an injection. The system comprises a sterile container, an injector, a delivery catheter, a flow diverter assembly and a diversion reservoir assembly. The delivery catheter is in communication with a selected site within a patient's body. The flow diverter assembly is disposed in a flow path between the injector and the delivery catheter and is configured to divert at least a portion of a medium of the injection from the flow path. The diversion reservoir assembly has a reservoir chamber fluidly coupled to the flow diverter assembly. The reservoir chamber is configured to receive the diverted portion of the fluid medium to allow re-use by the medium injector of the diverted portion.

A system for modulating delivery of a fluid medium to a selected site within a patient's body includes a syringe for injecting the fluid medium, a delivery catheter including a conduit for delivering the fluid medium from outside of the body to the selected site within the body, and a flow diverter assembly disposed in a fluid medium flow path between the syringe and the delivery catheter. The syringe includes a chamber for receiving the fluid medium therein. The flow diverter assembly is configured to simultaneously divert at least some of the fluid medium within the chamber of the syringe away from the delivery of the medium through the delivery catheter conduit during injecting with the syringe, and wherein the flow diverter assembly creates increasing medium fluid flow resistance with increasing pressure level of the fluid medium within the flow diverter assembly. A method for modulating fluid delivery to a selected site within a patient's body is also disclosed.

A system for modulating delivery of a fluid medium to a selected site within a patient's body includes a syringe for injecting the fluid medium, a delivery catheter including a conduit for delivering the fluid medium from outside of the body to the selected site within the body, a medium reservoir configured to receive a portion of the fluid medium, and a flow diverter assembly disposed in a fluid medium flow path between the syringe and the delivery catheter. The syringe includes a chamber for receiving the fluid medium therein. The flow diverter assembly is configured to divert the portion of the fluid medium from the chamber of the syringe away from the delivery of the medium through the delivery catheter conduit during injecting with the syringe, and simultaneously increase medium fluid flow resistance with increasing pressure level of the fluid medium within the flow diverter assembly.

An example cardiac pump system includes a catheter shaft having a proximal end region coupled to a handle and a distal end region coupled to a cardiac pump, wherein the cardiac pump includes an impeller housing, a cannula and an impeller, wherein the cannula includes a distal end region and a proximal end region, wherein the distal end region of the cannula is configured to be positioned in a left ventricle of a heart. Further, the cardiac pump system includes a first flow sensor coupled to the cannula or the catheter shaft, wherein the first flow sensor is configured to directly sense a first velocity of blood flowing adjacent to the first flow sensor.

One aspect of an intravascular ventricular assist device is an implantable blood pump where the pump includes a housing defining a bore having an axis, one or more rotors disposed within the bore, each rotor including a plurality of magnetic poles, and one or more stators surrounding the bore for providing a magnetic field within the bore to induce rotation of each of the one or more rotors. Another aspect of the invention includes methods of providing cardiac assistance to a mammalian subject as, for example, a human. Further aspects of the invention include rotor bodies having helical channels formed longitudinally along the length of the body of the rotor where each helical channel is formed between peripheral support surface areas facing radially outwardly and extending generally in circumferential directions around the rotational axis of the rotor.