Patent ID: 7407506

Claim:
A method for effecting revascularization of an artery having a blockage therein in the body of a patient, said method comprising the steps of: A) inserting a tissue penetrating catheter into the patient's vasculature; B) using the tissue penetrating catheter to form an opening in the wall of the artery upstream of the blockage; C) using the tissue penetrating catheter to form an opening in a vein adjacent to the artery; D) using one or more catheters that have been inserted into the patient's vasculature to establish a fluidic connection between the opening formed in the wall of the artery and the opening formed in the wall of the vein such that arterial blood will flow from the artery into the vein; and E) causing the arterial blood which enters the vein to flow through the vein in a direction opposite normal venous bloodflow though that vein.