Patent ID: 8784602

Claim:
A method for making a balloon catheter, comprising: (a) forming a catheter shaft, said forming including: disposing a first fluorinated hydrocarbon tube in a first lumen of a thermoplastic polymer sleeve material, the first fluorinated hydrocarbon tube having a melting point higher than that of the thermoplastic polymer sleeve material; disposing a second fluorinated hydrocarbon tube in a second lumen of the thermoplastic polymer sleeve material, the second fluorinated hydrocarbon tube having a melting point higher than that of the thermoplastic polymer sleeve material; heating the thermoplastic polymer sleeve material, with the first and second fluorinated hydrocarbon tubes disposed in the first and second lumens, to provide a heated catheter shaft assembly in which the thermoplastic polymer sleeve material is molten; and compressing the heated catheter shaft assembly so as to cause the molten thermoplastic polymer sleeve material to flow around and join together the first fluorinated hydrocarbon tube and the second fluorinated hydrocarbon tube; and (b) mounting a balloon on the catheter shaft with an interior of the balloon in fluid communication with a lumen defined by the first fluorinated hydrocarbon tube.