A wound drainage and hemostasis promoting medical device (1) are disclosed. A balloon (15) is temporary inflated and arranged outside a sheath (10), in contact with tissue surrounding a wound cavity for hemostasis promotion. The drainage device comprises a fluid communication channel for wound exudate from wound. The balloon is deflated and retracted into said sheath for removal from said wound cavity. Thus the medical device is percutaneously retractable from said confined wound.

A device, a system, and a method for diagnosis and treatment of e.g., mitral valve regurgitation. The system includes a catheter that is configured to deflect and/or steer a distal tip of the catheter inside a patient's body, a guide wire that is configured to guide the catheter in an enclosed in vivo space within the patient's body, a proximal device handle that is configured to allow the non-parallel spiral cable to switch back and forth between flexibility modes, and a treatment device that is independent of, yet still within, an instrument channel of the catheter, wherein the distal tip of the catheter further includes an inflatable balloon which may be an asymmetrical intussuscepted shape, and may be attached within a section of the distal tip of the catheter, wherein the distal tip further includes a visualization device for directly viewing an in vivo space within the patient.

Devices and methods for treating obesity are provided. More particularly, intragastric devices and methods of tracking and locating the same are provided.

An apparatus includes a shaft, a balloon, a tip member, and a heating feature. The tip member is distal to the balloon and has a larger outer diameter than the shaft. The heating feature is operable to ablate tissue of the Eustachian tube contacting the balloon in the expanded state. The heating feature may include an illuminating element and a photosensitive coating on the balloon. Alternatively, the heating feature may include a thermal heating element that heats the balloon inflation fluid and thereby heats the wall of the balloon. Another apparatus includes a shaft, a tip member, and an electrode assembly. The electrode assembly includes a plurality of electrodes positioned along the shaft near the distal end, proximal to the tip member. The electrodes are spaced apart from each other along a longitudinal axis and are operable to apply RF energy to tissue to thereby ablate the tissue.

A device for collecting a biological sample in a subject, the device including an inflatable portion attached to a tubular member, and designed to expand from within the tubular member when inflated and to retract within the tubular member, a surface on the inflatable portion provided with varied thickness to facilitate movement of the inflatable portion between an expanded state and a retracted state, and a plurality of projections on the surface to allow collection of the biological sample when the inflatable portion is in the expanded state.

Medical devices and methods for making and using medical devices are disclosed. An example medical device may include a catheter. The catheter may include a catheter shaft and a balloon. The balloon may comprise a cone portion, a waist portion, and a body portion. A fiber braid may be disposed along the balloon. An inner surface of the waist portion may be thermally bonded to an outer surface of the catheter shaft and an inner surface of the fiber braid may be adhesively bonded to an outer surface of the waist portion.

The present invention relates to a pharmaceutical composition for intravascular delivery of a therapeutic agent, such as paclitaxel, rapamycin, or an analog thereof. The composition includes the therapeutic agent and a biocompatible solvent, such as glycofurol. The composition can aid tissue penetration by the therapeutic agent. A catheter assembly that protects the pharmaceutical composition from the surroundings can be used for its intravascular delivery.

A thin walled balloon formed in polymer tubing has a patterned metal layer on its outer surface, created by physical vapor deposition (PVD). The pattern is defined by a stencil mask assembled around the balloon, with the balloon inflated therein. The PVD occurs without deforming or degrading the polymer material of the balloon, by actively pulling heat away from the balloon a) by forming the stencil mask out of metal; b) by providing a metal heat conduction path away from the balloon to a heat sink, such as outside the vacuum chamber, and/or c) by flow of a cooling fluid within the balloon during the PVD process. Proper PVD process parameters are selected to minimize heat generation, such as having argon pressure in the range of 0.8 to 1.2 milli-torr and generating the plasma at a power of less than about 200 watts/square inch of effective target surface area.

Inflatable devices are disclosed including a surface which has a network of polymer chains and is configured to be inflatable into a therapeutically or diagnostically useful shape, and at least one ultrashort laser pulse-formed modification in the surface. The network can, for example, include a network morphology that is substantially unchanged by modification with the ultrashort pulse laser. Ultrashort laser pulses can be laser pulses equal to or less than 1000 picoseconds in duration. Advantageously, the etching process uses a relatively low-heat laser to avoid significant heating of surrounding polymers while modifying the surface (and other structures) of the device. The process is configured so that the polymer chain morphology adjacent the modification is substantially unaffected by the low-heat laser. The resulting inflatable device has customized surface features while still retaining substantially homogenous polymer network morphology. This preserves the elasticity, especially the surface elasticity, of the inflatable device.

A balloon for medical treatments such as percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA), delivery of a vascular stents or stent grafts, employs reinforcement materials that are patterned so as to promote consistent folding of the balloon. Also disclosed are methods and apparatus for biocidal treatment using a balloon, including balloons with fiber fabric reinforcements.