Patent ID: 8029495

Claim:
A method for introducing a catheter of an intrathecal drug delivery system into an intrathecal space of a human or animal body, comprising: providing the intrathecal catheter with 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 receiving a stylet and for drug delivery, 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, the stylet having a distal tip that is curved in its neutral state, 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 fully inserted into the catheter lumen with the stylet distal tip positioned within the catheter distal portion adjacent its closed end, the curved distal portion of the catheter forming a blunt leading portion with a most-forward point along a mid-section of the curve; inserting the intrathecal catheter, with the stylet housed therein, into an incision in the human or animal body and into the intrathecal space; guiding the intrathecal catheter, with the stylet housed therein, through the intrathecal space by manipulation of the stylet by advancing the blunt leading portion of the curved distal portion of the intrathecal catheter, with the stylet housed therein, through the intrathecal space; connecting the proximal portion of the intrathecal catheter to a drug-delivery pump of the intrathecal drug-delivery system; and removing the stylet from the intrathecal catheter, wherein the curved flexible distal tip of the stylet 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 removal from the catheter the flexible distal tip of the stylet resiliently returns to its neutral curved shape.