Patent ID: 8905967

Claim:
A balloon catheter, comprising: a) an elongated catheter shaft having a proximal end, a distal end, a proximal shaft section, a distal shaft section, a guidewire receiving lumen extending along at least a distal portion of the catheter shaft, and an inflation lumen; b) a distal tip member located at a distal end of the catheter, having a distal end and a proximal end longitudinally spaced distally apart from the distal end of the elongated catheter shaft with a gap there between, and a lumen which extends to a guidewire distal port in communication with the shaft guidewire lumen, and having an inner layer formed of a first polymeric material which has a first Shore durometer hardness and which defines at least a section of the lumen of the distal tip member, and an outer layer formed of a second polymeric material which has a lower Shore durometer hardness than the first polymeric material and which is fusion bond compatible with the first polymeric material, the inner layer and outer layer extending from the distal end to the proximal end of the tip member; and c) an inflatable balloon sealingly secured to the distal shaft section so that an interior of the balloon is in fluid communication with the shaft inflation lumen, formed at least in part of a polymeric material fusion bond compatible with the first and second polymeric materials of the tip member, and having a distal skirt section surrounding and fusion bonded to a proximal section of the tip member along which both the inner and outer layer materials of the tip extend, the tip member having a fused proximal section which is a fused blend of the balloon distal skirt section and the inner and outer layers of the tip member, the fused blend of the fused proximal section having both the outer layer material and inner layer material of the tip member fused to the material of the distal skirt section along the proximal section of the tip member.