Patent ID: 9463035
Filing Date: 2016-10-11
CPC Classification: A61B

Claim Text:
1. A method of performing a mechanical thrombectomy to remove a clot from a blood vessel, the method comprising: advancing a distal end of a catheter through the blood vessel towards the clot; exposing a distal tractor region of a tube that is within the catheter from the distal end of the catheter, wherein the distal tractor region comprises an expandable first end region and a less expandable second end region proximal to the expandable first end region; allowing the expandable first end region to expand within the blood vessel; positioning the distal end of the catheter so that a distal end region of the catheter is between the less expandable second end region and the expandable first end region of the distal tractor region while the expandable first end region is doubled over the less expandable second end region; and drawing the clot into the catheter by rolling the expandable first end region over the distal end of the catheter so that the expandable first end region inverts as the expandable first end region is pulled into the catheter.