Patent ID: 6078832
Filing Date: 2000-06-20
Classification: A61B,A61F,A61M

Abstract:
A method for measuring the distance between a first target location and a second target location within a lumen, said method comprisingaligning a first marker on a first elongate member disposed within the lumen with the first target location;aligning a second marker on a second elongate member disposed within the lumen with the second target location; andmeasuring the distance between the first and second markers, which measured distance corresponds to the distance between the first and second target locations;wherein the lumen is a blood vessel lumen and the first and second target locations correspond to the ends of a lesion to determine the length of the lesion;wherein aligning each marker comprises manually translating the elongate members carrying the markers within the lumen;said method further comprising intraluminal ultrasonic imaging of the lumen, wherein the first and second markers are ultrasonically opaque and aligning said markers comprises alignment of the ultrasonic images of each marker with one end of the lesion.