Patent ID: 7959623

Claim:
A method of introducing fluid to a wound site of a patient, comprising the steps of: providing a guide needle within an introducer conduit; piercing the skin of the patient with the guide needle; advancing the guide needle through the patient's tissue to a wound site; removing the guide needle from within the introducer conduit, while leaving a distal end of the introducer conduit in the wound site; providing a catheter comprising a substantially non-expandable elongated tube having a plurality of exit holes along the length thereof, said tube having a substantially consistent cross-sectional size between a proximal end and a distal end, said plurality of exit holes defining an infusion section of said catheter, said catheter further comprising a tubular porous membrane concentrically enclosed within said tube wherein an outer surface of the tubular porous membrane contacts an inner surface of the tube along a section of the catheter including the exit holes, said tubular porous membrane extending an entire length of said infusion section and defining a radially innermost surface of a lumen of said catheter within said infusion section, said tubular porous membrane being configured such that a fluid introduced into a proximal end of said tube will flow to said infusion section and first contact said tubular porous membrane, saturate said tubular porous membrane, and then exit said tubular porous membrane prior to being dispensed from said catheter by flowing through said exit holes; threading the catheter through the introducer conduit; removing the introducer conduit from the patient while leaving the infusion catheter in place in the wound site of the patient; and introducing fluid to the wound site through the infusion catheter.