US 11,850,030 B2
Pressure measuring catheter having reduced error from bending stresses
Gerry McCaffrey, Galway (IE); Fiachra Sweeney, Galway (IE); and Christopher Murphy, Galway (IE)
Assigned to Medtronic Vascular, Inc., Santa Rosa, CA (US)
Filed by MEDTRONIC VASCULAR, INC., Santa Rosa, CA (US)
Filed on Dec. 27, 2018, as Appl. No. 16/233,861.
Application 16/233,861 is a continuation of application No. 14/595,884, filed on Jan. 13, 2015, granted, now 10,201,284.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/012,628, filed on Jun. 16, 2014.
Prior Publication US 2019/0133461 A1, May 9, 2019
Int. Cl. A61B 5/0215 (2006.01); A61B 5/02 (2006.01); A61B 5/00 (2006.01)
CPC A61B 5/0215 (2013.01) [A61B 5/02007 (2013.01); A61B 5/6852 (2013.01); A61B 2562/0247 (2013.01)] 13 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A catheter comprising:
an elongate shaft including a proximal portion coupled to a handle or luer fitting at a proximal end and a distal portion extending from the proximal portion to a distal opening at a distal end of the elongate shaft, the distal end of the shaft having a distal tip having a first outer diameter larger than a second outer diameter of the distal portion, the elongate shaft having a shaft wall, the shaft wall having an outer surface and an inner surface, the inner surface defining a guidewire lumen; and
a pressure sensor having a first end coupled to the outer surface of the shaft wall at the distal end of the elongate shaft, the pressure sensor having a second end not coupled to the elongate shaft, wherein the second end of the pressure sensor is spaced apart from the outer surface of the shaft wall, such that at least a portion of the pressure sensor is isolated from the bending stresses of the shaft wall when the elongate shaft is tracked to a treatment site within a vasculature,
wherein the pressure sensor is disposed within a pocket formed in the distal tip of the distal end, the pocket defined by the outer surface of the shaft wall, a first sidewall extending away from and substantially perpendicularly to the outer surface of the shaft wall at a distal side of the pocket, a second sidewall extending away from the outer surface of the shaft wall along a length of the pressure sensor and intersecting the first sidewall, and a third sidewall extending away from the outer surface of the shaft wall along a length of the pressure sensor and intersecting the first sidewall, and
wherein the pocket is exposed to the environment such that at least a portion of the pressure sensor will be surrounded on five sides by a fluid when the elongate shaft is tracked within the vasculature.