Patent ID: 11969566
Assignee: VACTRONIX SCIENTIFIC, LLC
Field: Medical technology (Instruments)
Classification: CPC A | IPC A

Claim 0:
1. A method of making a sleeve for a balloon catheter comprising the steps of:
depositing by physical vapor deposition a material onto a cylindrical substrate, thereby forming a sleeve hypotube;
forming a plurality of elongate slits passing through a thickness of the sleeve hypotube, thereby defining a plurality of elongate strut members bounded by the plurality of elongate slits; and
configuring the plurality of elongate slits to assume a substantially closed position when an inflatable balloon of the balloon catheter is in an uninflated state and to assume a substantially open position when the inflatable balloon is in an inflated state and at least some of the elongate strut members are configured to at least partially rotate about their respective longitudinal axes and project radially outward relative to a central axis of the balloon catheter thereby forming a projection from a normal plane of the sleeve hypotube and then return to a substantially co-planar position in the normal plane of the sleeve hypotube when the inflatable balloon is in the uninflated state.