Patent ID: 9681968
Date: 2017-06-20
CPC Classifications: A61F,A61M

Claim:
1. A catheter for detachably receiving an expandable implant, comprising: one or more reins; at least one longitudinally-extending lumen configured to guide at least one of the one or more reins; a side-wall defining an interior space; at least two openings formed through the side-wall of the catheter, the at least two openings providing a passage from the at least one lumen to an exterior of the catheter; an end opening provided at a longitudinal end of the catheter; and one or more control units, each of the one or more control units is configured to effect the one or more reins, respectively to control expanding of the expandable implant from a first diameter to a second diameter and/or recovering the expandable implant from the second diameter to the first diameter, wherein each of the one or more reins (i) enters the catheter through the end opening, (ii) extends through the at least one lumen along a length of the catheter, (iii) exits the at least one lumen through one opening of the at least two openings to the exterior of the catheter, (iv) continues to extend around at least a portion of a periphery of the catheter in a plane perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the catheter with the catheter as an extending center thereof, (v) re-enters the at least one lumen into the interior space of the catheter, and (vi) leaves the catheter through the end opening, wherein an outer portion of each of the one or more reins that extends outside of the catheter has an outer periphery, wherein the outer peripheries of all of the outer portions are formed in the plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the catheter; the outer peripheries of all of the outer portions form a generally complete circle, and wherein the catheter is disposed in a center of the generally complete circle.