Patent ID: 8092444

Claim:
An articulation segment of a catheter for selectively bending the catheter in a plurality of planes, the articulation segment comprising: a hollow tube having a wall and defining a longitudinal axis, the tube defining a plurality of first slits cut through the wall in respective planes substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis, with each first slit extending azimuthally in an arc partway around the longitudinal axis from a first end to a second end and defining a center midway therebetween, wherein the respective centers of the first slits are aligned along a first path, wherein the first slits have a length, and the path is devoid of slits of any other length, a plurality of second slits cut through the wall in respective planes substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis, with each second slit extending azimuthally in an arc partway around the longitudinal axis from a first end to a second end and defining a center midway therebetween, wherein the respective centers of the second slits are aligned along a second path, wherein the second path is substantially diametrically opposite to the first path relative to the longitudinal axis for selective bending of the catheter along a first plane, a plurality of third slits cut through the wall in respective planes substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis, with each third slit extending azimuthally in an arc partway around the longitudinal axis from a first end to a second end and defining a center midway therebetween, wherein the respective centers of the third slits are aligned along a third path that is azimuthally offset from both the first path and the second path, a plurality of fourth slits cut through the wall in respective planes substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis, with each fourth slit extending azimuthally in an arc partway around the longitudinal axis from a first end to a second end and defining a center midway therebetween, wherein the respective centers of the fourth slits are aligned along a fourth path, wherein the fourth path is substantially diametrically opposite to the third path relative to the longitudinal axis for selective bending of the catheter along a second plane that is different from the first plane, wherein the plurality of first slits and the plurality of second slits have equal arc lengths, and wherein the respective ends of the plurality of first slits and the plurality of third slits overlap one another through an arc distance of approximately ten degrees.