Patent ID: 7766893

Claim:
A method of dilating a carotid artery near a bifurcation between a common carotid artery (CCA) and internal carotid artery, the method comprising deploying a balloon catheter having proximal and distal ends and a plurality of lumens therethrough through the common carotid artery and into the internal carotid artery, wherein the catheter comprises a multi-chamber balloon assembly mounted at the distal end of the elongated tube comprising at least two tandem chambers, each chamber communicating with a separate lumen and each separate lumen terminating at the proximal end at a lumen valve head, and each chamber has an inflated configuration with a diameter that progressively tapers in a direction from proximal to distal, said taper extending substantially continuously from the proximal end of the balloon assembly to the distal end thereof, so that balloon assembly most proximal chamber of the balloon assembly crosses the bifurcation between the common carotid artery and the internal carotid artery, and inflating the chambers sequentially from the most distal chamber and then proceeding proximally until the desired dilation has been achieved.