INTRALUMINAL RETRIEVAL CATHETER

摘要

An intraluminal retrieval device (16) includes an outer catheter (30) insertable into a body lumen that contains an unwanted object. The catheter supports two ballons (48, 50) for placement on opposite sides of the object, whereupon the ballons when inflated isolate a segment of the artery containing the object. The outer catheter includes at least one window (56) between the balloons. An inner catheter (36) is movable relative to the outer catheter to open and close each window. With the window open, a snare (42), vacuum (44) or positive irrigation flow (46) is used to retrieve the object by conveying it through the window into a retrieval chamber (54). Outer catheters with several windows enable selective alignment of the catheters to choose a window nearest the object, or to choose from among windows of different sizes and shapes. A smaller version of the device employs a single catheter with a retrieval opening between two microballons for intracranial retrieval applications.