Patent ID: 8486023

Claim:
A drug delivery system for insertion into an intrathecal space of a human or animal body, comprising: an intrathecal catheter having an elongate body that is made of a flexible biocompatible material, defines a lumen, and has a proximal portion and a distal portion, the lumen for drug delivery from the proximal portion to the distal portion, the distal portion having a closed end and defining at least one lateral opening for drug delivery from the lumen laterally into the intrathecal space; and a stylet that is insertable into and removable from the lumen, the stylet having a distal tip that in its neutral state is curved, flexible, and stiffer than the distal portion of the intrathecal catheter thereby producing a curve to the distal portion of the catheter when the stylet is in a first position fully inserted into the catheter lumen with the stylet distal tip positioned within the catheter distal portion adjacent its closed end, wherein in the first stylet position the curved distal portion of the catheter forms a blunt leading portion with a most-forward point along a mid-section of the curve for use in safely guiding the styletted catheter through the intrathecal space into a drug-delivery position by advancing the blunt leading portion of the curved distal portion of the styletted catheter through the intrathecal space by manipulation of the stylet, wherein for delivery of the drug through the lumen and into intrathecal space, the stylet is withdrawn from the catheter lumen to a second position outside of the catheter, wherein as the stylet is moved from the first to the second stylet position, the curved flexible distal tip of the stylet generally straightens out during removal from the catheter and at the same time the curved distal portion of the catheter straightens out in the intrathecal space, and wherein upon complete removal from the catheter in the second stylet position the flexible distal tip of the stylet resiliently returns to its neutral curved shape.