Catheter with heat-fused balloon with waist.

摘要

Disclosed is an everting balloon catheter (10) in which the balloon (20) has a waist (94) at the desired eversion point to minimize the size of the distal tip (96) of the catheter during insertion. Preferably, the distal end of the outer body is bevelled and the waist is located just distal and radial to the tip of the outer body (12) when the inner body (14) is fully extended distal to the outer body. Usually, the waist is formed by heat shrinking the balloon during manufacture, thus usually increasing balloon thickness at the waist. Also, in the disclosed invention, the balloon is attached to the outer catheter body via heat fusion. Generally, the outer body and the balloon are both formed of compositions having at least one component in common to promote heat fusion for attachment of the balloon. Preferably that component is polyethylene.