Patent ID: 6974448

Claim:
A method of delivering a therapeutic agent to selected sites within an organism, comprising the steps of: identifying the selected sites for delivering the therapeutic agent; selecting a catheter having a tubular section and a solid catheter tip, the tubular section having a proximal end and a distal end, the distal end attached to the solid catheter tip, the tubular section comprising solid sections and microporous membrane sections, each of the microporous membrane sections including, a first end and a second end, the first end and the second end coupled to the solid sections forming a continuous cross section of the tubular section, the tubular section having a substantially uniform diameter; placing the catheter in the organism so that the microporous membrane sections are placed at the selected sites; coupling the catheter to a pump for delivering the therapeutic agent to the selected sites; actuating the pump to deliver the therapeutic agent to the selected sites through the microporous membrane sections; and wherein the catheter is configured to allow the therapeutic agent to fill a lumen of the catheter until a predetermined luminal pressure exceeding the external pressure of the selected site is reached, and the microporous membrane sections are configured to deliver the therapeutic agent at the predetermined luminal pressure.