Patent ID: 6592567
Filing Date: 2003-07-15
Classification: A61M

Abstract:
A method of perfusion of a kidney in a patient having a beating heart, using a perfusion catheter assembly having an introducer catheter and a perfusion catheter tip extending from a distal end of the introducer catheter, and comprising:a. inserting the introducer catheter into an artery of the patient, maneuvering the perfusion catheter through the aorta and towards the renal artery of the kidney; b. positioning the distal end of the introducer catheter in the aorta proximate to an inlet to the renal artery; c. inserting the perfusion catheter tip extending from the introducer catheter into the renal artery, wherein said catheter tip has an inlet proximate a distal end of the introducer catheter; d. delivering perfusate though the introducer catheter, into the inlet of the catheter tip, through the perfusion catheter tip and into the renal artery to perfuse the kidney, and e. at least partially blocking the inlet to the renal artery with a sealing device entirely in the aorta and attached to the distal end of the introducer catheter, wherein said sealing device is sufficiently large to substantially seal the inlet to the renal artery and sufficiently small to avoid substantially disrupting blood flow through the aorta.