Catheter with tapered end balloon

摘要

A delivery system, including a balloon catheter having a balloon with distal and proximal ends and a guide catheter for delivering the balloon catheter to a treatment site, is disclosed. The balloon tapers from at least one of the distal and proximal ends of the balloon to an active region on the surface of the balloon. The active region has a diameter D₁ which is greater than a diameter of the balloon at one or more of the distal and proximal ends of the balloon. Preferably, one or more of the lengths L₁, which is the distance from the proximal end of the balloon to the active region, and L₂, which is the distance from the distal end of the balloon to the active region, are between three to thirty times the diameter D₁.