Patent ID: 6913600

Claim:
A method of positioning a catheter in a patient's ascending aorta between the palent's coronary ostia and the patient's brachiocephalic artery, comprising: introducing a distal end of a shaft of an aortic catheter into a blood vessel downstream of the patient's ascending aorta, the shaft comprising an inner tubular member within an outer tubular member, the inner tubular member extending at least to the distal end of the outer tubular member; transluminally positioning the shaft so that the distal end of the shaft is in the ascending aorta and an expandable occluding member attached to the shaft near the distal end is disposed between the coronary ostia and the brachiocephalic artery; expanding the occluding member within the ascending aorta to prevent migration of the occluding member into the aortic root by passing an inflation fluid through a flow passage formed by the inner tubular member and the outer tubular member; and measuring pressure within the expandable occluding member with a pressure transducer within the expandable occluding member.