Catheter having a readily bondable multilayer soft tip

1. A balloon catheter, comprising:

a) an elongated catheter shaft having a proximal end, a distal end, an inflation lumen, and an inner tubular member with a guidewire receiving lumen therein;

b) a distal tip member located at a distal end of the catheter, having a distal end, a proximal end longitudinally spaced distally apart from a distal end of the catheter shaft inner tubular member with a gap there between, and a lumen which extends to a guidewire distal port in communication with the shaft guidewire lumen, and having an inner layer formed of a first polymeric material which has a first Shore durometer hardness and which defines at least a section of the lumen of the distal tip, and an outer layer formed of a second polymeric material which is of the same polymer type as the first polymeric material and which has a lower Shore durometer hardness than the first polymeric material and which is fusion bond compatible with the first polymeric material; and

c) an inflatable balloon sealingly secured to the catheter shaft so that an interior of the balloon is in fluid communication with the shaft inflation lumen, formed at least in part of a polymeric material fusion bond compatible with the first and second polymeric materials of the distal tip, and having a distal skirt section with a proximal section bonded to a distal end of the shaft inner tubular member, and with a distal section extending to a location distally spaced from the shaft inner tubular member having a distal end abutting and fusion bonded to the proximal end of the distal tip member at which both the first and second polymeric materials of the distal tip are located, such that a proximal section of the distal tip is a fused blend of the balloon distal skirt section and the inner and outer layers of the distal tip, the fused blend having both the outer layer material and inner layer material of the distal tip fused to the material of the distal skirt section along the proximal section of the distal tip, and the inner and outer layers of the distal tip extend along a distal section of the distal tip to the distal end thereof.

2. The balloon catheter of claim 1 , wherein the inner and outer layers of the distal tip are approximately equal in length.

3. The balloon catheter of claim 1 , wherein the distal tip has a pull strength of about 0.5 to about 2.5 lbs.

4. The balloon catheter of claim 1 wherein the balloon is formed at least in part of the first polymeric material.

5. The balloon catheter of claim 1 wherein the balloon is a single-layer balloon formed of the first polymeric material.

6. The balloon catheter of claim 1 wherein the first and second polymeric materials are a polyether block amide copolymer.

7. The balloon catheter of claim 6 wherein the first polymeric material is a PEBAX 72D and the second polymeric material is a PEBAX 55D.

8. The balloon catheter of claim 1 wherein the first polymeric material is not a lubricious polymeric material, and an inner surface of the shaft defining the guidewire lumen proximal to the tip is formed of a lubricious polymeric material.

9. The balloon catheter of claim 1 , wherein the second polymeric material of the distal tip provides a surface which has a higher tackiness than the first polymeric material of the distal tip, such that the inner surface of the distal tip at least along the distal section thereof is not tacky at a body temperature above room temperature.