A catheter stabilizer and a method for installing the stabilizer are especially suited to retaining a catheter in its position of insertion into the body of a patient. The stabilizer is a laminate of clear film atop double-backed adhesive preferably atop peel-off release paper. The double-backed adhesive defines a viewing window through the stabilizer. The stabilizer and method reduce preparation-of-materials steps, eliminate performance of arbitrary, awkward or inconsistently-performable installation steps, result in predictably effective catheter-to-patient connections, mitigate against the likelihoods of migration of the catheter out of the incision or expansion of the length of the incision during and after installation, create a sterile environment to the area surrounding the point of penetration of the catheter into the anatomy, extend the effective life of the installation, reduce the risks of complications and costs associated with replacement of a catheter and enable a rapid and sound installation.

A catheter includes: a body comprising a body side wall, a proximal end and a distal end; a septum extending from the proximal end to the distal end; a first lumen and a second lumen separated by the septum, each lumen forming a mouth at the distal end; first and second slots formed in a portion of the body side wall at the distal end and in fluid communication with the first and second lumens respectively. The first and second slots extend linearly along a direction parallel to a longitudinal axis of the body. The distal end of the body and the septum terminate in a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis. The distal end of the body has a substantially round cross section, while the first and second lumens each have a substantially D-shaped cross-section at the distal end. The two slots each have a width that is between 30% and 60% of a longer dimension of the D-shaped cross-section of a corresponding lumen.

A catheter can have a distal circular region that can contract in circumference via manipulation of a pull wire. The circular region can have electrodes distributed around the circumference that are suitable for mapping and/or ablation, and preferably suitable for IRE ablation. The catheter can include a cross-over region near a distal end of a shaft in which elongated elements extend at an angle to the longitudinal axis. The cross-over region can be bounded by an intermediate tube having four lumens and a distal tube having three lumens. The circular region can include structural features to facilitate contraction such as a support member having a preferable bending direction, polymer tubing segments positioned to inhibit bending stress on electrodes, navigation sensors positioned to inhibit bending stress on said sensors and electrodes, and a distal assembly at a distal end of the circular region.

In a multiple-lumen catheter having multiple guidewires for treatment of vascular blockages, the catheter comprising a proximal-end assembly, a distal-end portion and a multi-lumen medial portion therebetween, the improvement wherein: (1) the multiple guidewires are preloaded in the catheter, each guidewire in its own single-guidewire lumen extending from its own guidewire entry port in the proximal-end assembly to a lumen convergence portion; and (2) the distal-end portion includes: (a) the lumen convergence portion along which the multiple lumens merge into a single output lumen sized to match the largest-diameter lumen of the multiple lumens, (b) an intermediate distal-end section connected to the lumen convergence portion and surrounding the single output lumen continuing therethrough, and (c) a tapered tip surrounding the single output lumen continuing therethrough.

Balloon/infusion catheters comprise internal corewires within a single lumen structure in which the corewire can slide relative to the catheter tube within limits, and the balloon is attached to the catheter tube on one end and to the sliding corewire on the other end. The lumen provides fluid to inflate the balloon and to infuse fluid into the vessel proximal to the balloon. The infusion ports can have a polymer valve to limit infusion to lumen pressures at which the balloon is appropriately inflated. The balloon/infusion catheter can have an integral flow meter near its proximal end. Corresponding methods for use of the balloon/infusion catheter are described, such as for the delivery of hydraulic forces when used in conjunction with an aspiration catheter.

A multifunctional catheter includes a catheter main body (1) and a distal tube (2) that are in a multi-channel structure. The distal tube (2) includes a soft end (21) at a proximal end and a functional end (22) at a distal end; a working channel (3) and a lens channel (6) are provided in the catheter main body (1) and the soft end (21), and the functional end (22) is also provided with a through hole communicating with the lens channel (6); the lens channel (6) is of a circular tubular-cavity structure extending along the catheter main body (1) and the soft end (21); and a plurality of accommodating slots (61) are provided on an inner wall of the lens channel (6) to accommodate a photosensitive chip in a lens assembly by the plurality of accommodating slots (61).

An apparatus and method use a catheter for specific and discriminate treatment of central nervous system disease. With the catheter, selective hypothermia to the brain and/or the spinal cord for injury protection can be achieved without the need for systemic cooling. The catheter is also capable of draining excess cerebrospinal fluid.

A coaxial multilumen annulus plane catheter, including an outer pigtail catheter enclosing one or two additional lumens, each housing either a slidable shaped wire or a second pigtail catheter shaped to fit into a wide range of annulus diameters and/or depths. In embodiments, the device may include a catheter delivery handle with thumb/finger-actuated sliders that extend or retract the shaped wires and are sized to enable side-to-side or radial motion, imparting a torque to the pre-shaped wires which translates the length of the wires to enable individually controlled rotation or sweep of each wire to accommodate different annulus diameters. The delivery handle includes hemostasis controls and flush ports. In other embodiments, a handle is obviated by direct lumen axial and rotational control at a proximal end.

A percutaneous catheter for blood removal includes a catheter tube extending in an axial direction with a plurality of distal side holes provided on a distal end part of the catheter tube and communicating a lumen of the catheter with an outside of the catheter tube. The plurality of distal side holes is spirally arranged in the axial direction of the catheter tube, and at least one distal side hole at the proximal end side of the spirally arranged side holes is formed to have a diameter smaller than a diameter of a distal side hole at the distal end side of the spirally arranged side holes.

An arterial cannula for ECMO includes a main arterial cannula with an inner wall and having a first end with a blood outflow port. The first end is intended to be introduced into an artery so as to inject the blood retrogradely into the artery. A retro-perfusion cannula is configured to be translatably movable between a retracted position in the first end of the main arterial cannula and a deployed position at least partly outside the main arterial cannula and opposite the blood outflow port of the main arterial cannula.