Guide catheter slitter
A slitter for slitting a guide catheter has a handle and a blade assembly coupled to the handle. The blade assembly includes a shroud for receiving an elongated body of a medical device and a slitting blade having an exposed cutting edge to slit the guide catheter. The blade assembly includes a user-deflectable portion coupled to the shroud for causing the shroud to flex in response to deflection of the user-deflectable portion. The handle and the blade assembly may be assembled from piece parts in a manufacturing method.
1. A guide catheter slitter comprising:
a blade assembly comprising:
a shroud extending along a central axis to receive an elongated body of a medical device, and
a slitting blade comprising an exposed cutting edge; and
a handle coupled to the blade assembly defining:
a bottom face proximate the blade assembly, and
a rear face extending from the bottom face at an acute angle between 30 degrees and 75 degrees defined between the rear face and the central axis, the rear face comprising a user-deflectable thumb portion that deflects into a cavity in the handle for placement of a user's thumb when the user grasps the handle.
2. The slitter of claim 1 wherein the handle further defines an arcuate forward face comprising a concave portion, the forward, rear, and bottom faces configured to accommodate a whole hand grip.
3. The slitter of claim 1 wherein the slitting blade lies in a blade plane and the rear face extends substantially along a rear face plane, wherein the blade plane and the rear face plane are perpendicular to each other.
4. The slitter of claim 1 wherein the shroud comprises:
a first flange; and
a second flange opposing the first flange, wherein the first and second flange define a groove extending therebetween to receive the elongated body.
5. The slitter of claim 4 wherein the thumb portion defines a groove to receive the elongated body being in communication with the groove of the shroud.
6. The handle of claim 1 wherein the thumb portion comprises a raised portion to reduce slippage of the user's thumb, the raised portion defining a groove to receive the elongated body.
7. The slitter of claim 1 wherein the blade assembly further comprises a nose piece extending forward from the cutting edge to direct the guide catheter toward the cutting edge.
8. The slitter of claim 1 further comprising a parallel visual alignment aid indicating an intended parallel alignment between the slitter and the guide catheter.
9. A guide catheter slitter comprising:
a blade assembly comprising:
a shroud extending along a central axis to receive an elongated body of a medical device, and
a slitting blade comprising an exposed cutting edge; and
a handle coupled to the blade assembly defining:
a bottom face proximate the blade assembly,
a rear face extending from the bottom face, the rear face comprising a user-deflectable thumb portion that deflects into a cavity in the handle when the user grasps the handle,
an arcuate forward face opposite the rear face, and
a pair of sidewalls extending between the rear face and the arcuate forward face, at least one sidewall of the pair of sidewalls and the rear face defining a palm rest to receive the user's palm when the user grasps the handle.