Blood vessel sensing catheter having working lumen for medical appliances
View Patent ↗Devices and methods are disclosed for providing a sensing element to scan tissue and detect the presence of structures within the tissue to avoid the structures when performing a procedure on the tissue. A catheter includes a blood vessel sensing assembly and a working lumen adapted to receive a medical appliance or instrument for performing various medical procedures.
1. A method for performing a tissue biopsy on a tumor in a lung comprising:
advancing a far end of a catheter into an airway within the lung and in the vicinity of the tumor where the catheter has a working channel and a Doppler ultrasound assembly that is affixed to the catheter and is offset from an axis of the working channel;
sensing for the absence of blood vessels along the airway using a Doppler ultrasound assembly associated with the far end of said catheter;
extending a working tip of a medical appliance from the working channel at said far end of said catheter, through a wall of said airway, and into said tumor such that catheter does not obscure the Doppler ultrasound assembly; and
removing a tissue sample from said tumor with said appliance.
2. The method of claim 1 where said medical appliance is a biopsy coring device.
3. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of advancing a bronchoscope into the airway, and advancing said catheter through a lumen in said bronchoscope.
4. The method of claim 1 where the far end of the catheter comprises a distal opening for said working tip of said medical appliance to exit, and wherein said opening is beveled.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein said Doppler ultrasound assembly is positioned distal to said distal opening.
6. The method of claim 1 further comprising identifying a location that is free of a blood vessel during sensing and holding the Doppler ultrasound assembly against the location while simultaneously extending the working tip into said tumor.