Granted Patent B2

US 12,521,142 · App. 17/749,882 · Granted Jan 13, 2026

Inventors: Himanshu N. Patel (San Jose, CA); John B. Simpson (Woodside, CA); Charles W. McNall (Cottonwood Heights, UT); Maegan K. Spencer (Emerald Hills, CA); Michael Zung (San Carlos, CA); Priyanshu Gupta (Hornsby, AU); Nicholas J. Spinelli (San Carlos, CA); Myra L. Fabro (San Francisco, CA); Eduardo Sucgang (South San Francisco, CA); Theodore W. Ketai (San Francisco, CA)

Assignee: ZYLOX TONBRIDGE MEDICAL LIMITED

A61B17/320783A61B1/00179A61B1/00183A61B1/3137A61B17/320725A61B17/320758A61B1/00165A61B5/0066A61B2017/00292A61B2017/320791A61B2090/3614A61B90/37A61B2090/3735

Abstract

Claims (34)

1 . A method of performing atherectomy, comprising:

inserting an atherectomy catheter into a vessel lumen, the artherectomy catheter comprising a driveshaft within an elongate body, wherein an optical fiber runs through the driveshaft and has a distal end that is attached to an opening of a cutter at distal end of the driveshaft;

rotating the cutter and the optical fiber with respect to the elongate body by rotating the driveshaft with respect to the elongate body;

longitudinally displacing the driveshaft of the atherectomy catheter to expose a distal cutting edge of the cutter;

cutting tissue or plaque from the vessel lumen with the exposed distal cutting edge; and

capturing images of the vessel lumen in real-time with the optical fiber attached to the cutter, wherein the images are collected through the opening of the cutter.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein capturing the images of the vessel lumen in real-time with the optical fiber comprises directing light from the optical fiber out at a 90 degree angle from an axis of the atherectomy catheter.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein capturing the images of the vessel lumen in real-time with the optical fiber comprises directing light from the optical fiber through a side opening in a catheter body of the atherectomy catheter.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein rotating the cutter and the optical fiber comprises rotating at between about 200 and 5,000 RPM.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein capturing the images of the vessel lumen comprises capturing optical coherence tomography (OCT) images.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein longitudinally displacing the driveshaft causes a distal tip of the atherectomy catheter to bend at a hinge to expose the distal cutting edge.

7 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising storing tissue cut from the vessel lumen in a distal tip of the atherectomy catheter.

8 . The method of claim 7 , further comprising packing tissue cut from the vessel lumen into the distal tip by moving the driveshaft and the cutter distally.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein capturing the images comprises directing light from a mirror at the distal end of the optical fiber onto tissue of the vessel lumen.

10 . A method of performing atherectomy, comprising:

inserting an atherectomy catheter into a vessel lumen, the atherectomy catheter including an elongate body and cutter, wherein the cutter is coupled to a driveshaft, and wherein an optical fiber runs through the driveshaft and has a distal end that is attached to an opening of the cutter;

rotating the cutter and the optical fiber with respect to the elongate body by rotating the driveshaft with respect to the elongate body;

longitudinally displacing the driveshaft within the elongate body to expose a distal cutting edge of the cutter through a side opening of the elongate body; and

capturing images of the vessel lumen with the optical fiber attached to the cutter, wherein the images are collected through the opening of the cutter, wherein the optical fiber extends a length of the elongate body.

11 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising cutting tissue from the vessel lumen with the exposed distal cutting edge of the cutter.

12 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the images are captured in real-time.

13 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising pushing tissue within a distal tip attached to the elongate body.

14 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the opening of the cutter is a side opening of the cutter.

15 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising directing light from a mirror at the distal end of the optical fiber onto tissue of the vessel.

16 . The method of claim 10 , wherein capturing the images of the vessel lumen comprises capturing optical coherence tomography (OCT) images.

17 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising storing tissue cut from the vessel lumen in a distal tip of the atherectomy catheter.

18 . The method of claim 17 , further comprising packing tissue cut from the vessel lumen into the distal tip by moving the driveshaft and the cutter distally.

19 . The method of claim 10 , wherein capturing the images comprises directing light from a mirror at the distal end of the optical fiber onto tissue of the vessel lumen.

20 . A method of performing atherectomy, comprising:

inserting an atherectomy catheter into a vessel lumen, the atherectomy catheter including an elongate body and cutter, wherein the cutter is coupled to a driveshaft, and wherein an optical fiber runs through the driveshaft and has a distal end that is attached to an opening of the cutter;

longitudinally displacing the driveshaft within the elongate body to expose a distal cutting edge of the cutter through a side opening of the elongate body;

rotating the cutter to cut tissue from the vessel lumen with the exposed distal cutting edge;

capturing images of the vessel lumen with the optical fiber attached to the cutter, wherein the images are collected through the opening of the cutter; and

packing tissue cut from the vessel lumen into a distal tip of the atherectomy catheter.

Assignments (5)

Continuity (2)

References Cited (400)