Patent ID: 7637870

Claim:
A catheter device that is useable to penetrate from the lumen of a blood vessel within a patient's body in which the catheter device is positioned to a target location within the patient's body, said catheter device comprising: a catheter having a proximal end and a distal end, said catheter being advanceable into said blood vessel; a tissue penetrator that is advanceable in a lateral direction from a side opening in the catheter, said tissue penetrator being operative to penetrate from the lumen of the blood vessel to the target location situated outside of the lumen of the blood vessel; an imaging transducer that provides an imaging signal from which an image of the target location and other anatomical structures located adjacent the first blood vessel can be obtained; a marker on the catheter, said marker being imageable by said imaging transducer to provide an image that predicts the path on which the penetrator will subsequently advance along with the image of the target location to thereby enable the operator to rotationally orient the catheter such that, when the tissue penetrator is subsequently advanced from the catheter, it will extend from the lumen of the blood vessel to the target location.