System for deploying a device to a distal location across a diseased vessel
Configurations are described for assisting in the execution of a percutaneous procedure while protecting the vascular pathway to the operational theater, which may comprise diseased tissue. A railed sheath may be controllably expandable and collapsible, and may comprise two or more elongate rail structures configured to assist in the distribution of loads to associated diseased tissue structures, while also contributing to the deployment of percutaneous tools by maintaining alignment of such tools with the railed catheter and associated anatomy.
1. A system for deploying a device to a distal location across a diseased vessel, comprising:
a protective sheath defining a lumen therethrough;
said sheath comprising an expandable embolic capture assembly having a collapsed configuration and an expanded configuration;
said embolic capture assembly comprising a tubular porous filter mesh having pores sized to prevent passage of embolic particles and to permit the flow of blood thereby providing an outlet for blood;
said embolic capture assembly having an open distal end in said expanded configuration comprising an inlet;
said embolic capture assembly having a hoop structure coupled to a distal end of said tubular porous filter;
said hoop structure being located at the distal end of said embolic capture assembly and having a collapsed configuration and an expanded configuration, said expanded configuration being dimensioned to engage the walls of a blood vessel;
an elongate obturator-jacket assembly comprising an atraumatic distal tip and jacket-like wrapper portion, the jacket like wrapper portion removably coupled to said sheath and the jacket-like wrapper portion surrounding the tubular porous filter mesh, said obturator-jacket assembly having an exterior transverse dimension smaller than that of said sheath and being capable of being withdrawn proximally through the lumen in said sheath,
wherein said obturator jacket assembly is capable of being advanced distally to release it from said sheath to uncover the tubular porous filter mesh of said embolic capture assembly, and wherein said obturator jacket-like wrapper portion is fracturable and constrains said hoop structure in its collapsed configuration and is adapted to release such constraint upon the application of a force sufficient to fracture said obturator jacket-like wrapper portion as the obturator-jacket assembly is advanced distally and released from the distal end of the sheath;
a proximal manipulation structure coupled to said hoop structure which is capable of collapsing said hoop structure and closing the distal end of said embolic capture assembly by the application of a tension applied to the hoop structure to capture particles in said tubular porous filter mesh.
2. The system of claim 1 , wherein said embolic capture assembly comprises rail members coupled to said hoop structure and which are configured to expand when said hoop structure expands.
3. The system of claim 2 , wherein said rail members comprise nitinol.
4. The system of claim 1 , wherein said obturator jacket-like wrapper portion is capable of being fractured by the advancement of a device to be deployed in a blood vessel through said jacket-like wrapper portion.
5. The system of claim 1 , wherein a tensile member is coupled to the outer surface of said obturator jacket-like wrapper portion and is configured to tear the obturator jacket-like wrapper portion away from the embolic capture assembly to allow said hoop structure to expand.
6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the hoop structure comprises a plurality of hoops.
7. The system of claim 6 , wherein said plurality of hoops are inter-coupled by struts having a zig-zag configuration.
8. The system of claim 1 , wherein said hoop structure comprises nitinol.
9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the obturator jacket-like wrapper portion is fracturable along a preexisting perforation having a circumferential pathway about the obturator jacket-like wrapper portion.
10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the obturator jacket-like wrapper portion is configured to fracture and completely separate from the distal end of the sheath as the obturator-jacket assembly is advanced distally.