Patent ID: 8162877

Claim:
A method for thrombus ablation comprising: positioning a catheter within a vessel including positioning a catheter distal portion near a thrombus, the catheter including a high pressure tube configured for connection with a fluid source near a catheter proximal portion; directing a fluid jet through a fluid jet emanator from the catheter distal portion toward the catheter proximal portion, the fluid jet emanator in communication with the high pressure tube; generating a jet stream through an outflow orifice with the fluid jet, the jet stream is directed away from the catheter distal portion, the outflow orifice is located at a discrete location along a catheter perimeter of the catheter distal portion, a continuous surface of the catheter distal portion extends along the catheter perimeter opposed to the discrete location of the outflow orifice; urging the continuous surface toward a vessel wall with the jet stream generated at the discrete location; and turning an inflow orifice away from the vessel wall with the jet stream, the inflow orifice longitudinally aligned with the discrete location.