Patent ID: 7691121

Claim:
An embolectomy catheter system for removing a blood clot or other embolus from a location within the vasculature of a human or animal subject, the catheter comprising: a guidewire; an embolectomy catheter that is advanceable over said guidewire, said embolectomy catheter comprising: an elongate flexible catheter body having a proximal end, a distal end, an inner tube, and an outer tube terminating proximal to a distal end of the catheter body; an embolus removal apparatus disposed on the inner tube, the embolus removal apparatus being initially disposed in a collapsed configuration and constrained in said collapsed configuration by a portion of the outer tube; and a distal tip of the catheter body being located on the inner tube and adapted to pass through a blood clot or other embolus to be removed; wherein the outer tube is configured to be axially retractable to remove the constraint on the embolus removal apparatus and whereby the embolus removal apparatus is configured to automatically expand from said collapsed configuration to a deployed configuration upon said axial retraction of said outer tube without requiring axial movement or rotation of the guidewire; said embolus removal apparatus comprising a plurality of resilient members having proximal ends configured to freely slide over said inner tube and distal ends fixed to said inner tube and mid-portions that are configured to extend laterally away from the catheter body when the proximal ends slide over said inner tube as said embolus removal apparatus achieves its deployed configuration, thereby allowing embolic material to become entangled in said resilient members, said resilient members being wrapped around said inner tube in a helical manner when in said collapsed configuration.