Patent ID: 9604032
Date: 2017-03-28
CPC Classifications: A61F,A61M

Claim:
1. A catheter comprising an outer hose, an inner hose and an elastic cap for protectively covering the distal end of the catheter while inserted in a patient's vasculature, characterized in that the cap consists essentially of an elastic material, and comprises: a cavity comprising a first region with a diameter configured to accept and cover the distal end of the inner hose of the catheter and to exclude the distal end of the outer hose, and a second region with a diameter sized larger than the first region configured to releasably accept and cover the distal end of the outer hose of the catheter, and a first opening proximate to and accessing the second region of the cavity from outside of the cap, characterized in that the first opening is reversibly expandable under a force of less than or equal to 2.5 MPa between a diameter that is not larger than the diameter of the first region to a larger diameter that accepts the outer hose into the second region of the cavity thereby configuring the cap to close the first opening against the outer hose when the outer hose is covered by the cap and close the first opening against the inner hose when the outer hose is not covered by the cap so as to remain against the outer surface of the inner hose when withdrawing the catheter from the patient's vasculature.