Patent ID: 9427552
Filing Date: 2016-08-30
CPC Classification: A61F,A61M

Claim Text:
1. A method of minimizing the damage to bodily tissues caused by the movements and pressures of a catheter in a mobile patient's bladder over several days, the method comprising: inserting the catheter into the patient's bladder and inflating a balloon against an interior of the mobile patient's bladder, connecting the catheter to one end of a tube, the tube attached to a base; securing the base to a patient's thigh when a position of the patient's thigh is such that a distance from a point of securing to the catheter is at a minimum and the balloon is at a bottom of the bladder, an elastic member elongating and contracting in response to changes in the relative distance between the base and the catheter that result from the movements of the mobile patient whereby the elastic member applies a tensile force not exceeding a safe maximum tensile force to the catheter; conveying the fluid to or from the patient's body through the catheter and the tube; wherein creating a condition whereby the elastic member reduces the movement of the catheter by compensating for movement of the base by elongating and shortening thus reducing pistonning of the catheter, minimizing damage to bodily tissues and reducing the risk of infection, the elastic member maintains the direction of pull substantially constant and substantially maintaining the tensile force not exceeding the safe maximum tensile force on the catheter, and the base being attached to the patient's thigh isolates the catheter from any pulls on an outgoing portion of the tube; wherein the safe maximum tensile force distributed by the balloon over the bottom of the bladder corresponds to a surface pressure that is less than the blood pressure in blood vessels around the bottom of the bladder.