THERAPEUTIC DELIVERY CATHETER WITH IMAGING AND TISSUE CHARACTERIZATION

摘要

The invention includes medical devices, such as catheters, that have imaging and therapeutic agent delivery capabilities. The therapeutic catheters of the invention allow a surgeon to image biological tissues, such as thrombus, prior to delivering therapeutic agents to the tissues, and then re-image the tissue after the procedure to gauge the success of the procedure. The invention facilitates detailed characterization of the biological tissues with, e.g., spectral analysis, thereby providing insight into the composition of the tissues and helping to determine the amount of treatment that is appropriate. Because the imaging and therapy delivery are done with a single catheter, the time required for a procedure is decreased.