Patent ID: 8668668

Claim:
An endovascular intra-aortic catheter for providing access to a patient's heart through an aortic passageway leading away from an aortic valve in the patient's heart; the catheter comprising: a sheath having a distal portion, a proximal portion and a lumen extending therebetween, the sheath having a length between a distal end of the distal portion and a proximal end of the proximal portion, the length being sufficient such that the proximal end of the proximal portion extends out of the patient at a puncture site into an iliac artery and the distal end of the distal portion adapted to extend at least to the patient's aortic arch; the distal portion of the sheath comprising at least one diametrically expandable region that comprises a malleable reinforcement structure configured to maintain the at least one diametrically expandable region in a first cross-sectional configuration in which the at least one diametrically expandable region is longitudinally folded into a reduced cross-sectional profile and can be expanded to a second cross-sectional configuration in which the at least one diametrically expandable region is unfolded into a larger cross-sectional profile; and a hub coupled to the sheath at its proximal end.