| 摘要 |
A catheter for use with a radioactive source within the catheter to irradiate a selected area of a blood vessel in combination with angioplasty procedures, to prevent restenosis of that area of the blood vessel. The catheter has a guidewire channel formed near its distal end to facilitate use of the catheter as a rapid exchange catheter, allowing insertion of the catheter over a guidewire also used in performance of an angioplasty procedure. The catheter also has a radiation lumen with a sealed end to retain the radioactive source within the catheter. The radiation lumen is sufficiently longer than the guidewire channel to extend into a non-sterile field, keeping the radiation source segregated from the blood, allowing the use of a non-sterile radiation source. The catheter can also be provided with a centering balloon or a set of centering wire loops to center the radioactive source radially within the blood vessel. |
