Patent ID: 11883618
Assignee: ACCLARENT, INC.
Field: Medical technology (Instruments)
Classification: CPC A  B | IPC A  B

Claim 0:
1. A method of using an apparatus, the apparatus comprising:
(a) base housing defining:
(i) an upwardly presented support surface configured to support and contact a distal end of a dilation catheter, the upwardly presented support surface forming a channel such that an upper portion of the distal end of the dilation catheter is unconstrained above the upwardly presented support surface by the base housing, and
(ii) a distally oriented tip receiving recess tip receiving recess being sized and configured to receive a bulbous distal tip of the dilation catheter, the support surface being aligned with the receiving recess and is thereby positioned and configured to guide the bulbous distal tip of the dilation catheter into the receiving recess;

(b) an actuator movably coupled with the base housing; and
(c) a blade secured to the actuator;, the method comprising:
(a) using the dilation catheter to dilate a Eustachian tube of a patient;
(b) inserting the bulbous distal tip of the dilation catheter into the distally oriented tip receiving recess of the apparatus;
(c) actuating the actuator to thereby drive the blade downwardly relative to the base housing to sever the bulbous distal tip from the dilation catheter along a plane longitudinally interposed between the support surface and the tip receiving recess;
(d) removing the dilation catheter from the apparatus; and
(e) using the dilation catheter to dilate a passageway associated with drainage of a paranasal sinus of the patient after the act of removing.