Patent ID: 8696646
Filing Date: 2014-04-15
Classification: A61B,A61M

Abstract:
1. A method of delivering a treatment fluid to a treatment site within a body lumen of a patient comprising the steps of: advancing a turbulator through the body lumen, the turbulator including an elongate shape controlling component having a rigid proximal segment with a dominant shape memory property and a non-rigid distal segment, and an elongate flow perturbing component having a nonporous proximal segment and a porous distal segment with a subordinate shape memory property and including an exposed wire coil with a fixed primary shape, a fixed secondary shape, and a mutable tertiary shape, and the shape controlling component being freely slidable within the flow perturbing component between a distally advanced location and a retracted location; adjusting the turbulator from a low profile, lumen access configuration at which the mutable tertiary shape is defined by the dominant shape memory property and the shape of the non-rigid distal segment is determined by the shape of the flow perturbing component, to an expanded profile, deployed configuration at which the mutable tertiary shape is defined by the subordinate shape memory property, at least in part by sliding the shape controlling component from the distally advanced location to the retracted location, to increase turbulence in the flow of a body fluid through the body lumen; and introducing the treatment fluid into the body lumen such that the treatment fluid and the body fluid are mixed by the increased turbulence while flowing to the treatment site.