Patent ID: 8882751

Claim:
A method of removing a thrombus from a blood vessel, the method comprising the steps of: introducing a sheath having a first lumen and a second lumen into a blood vessel the first lumen and the second lumen each having a distal end, the distal end of the second lumen being proximally offset from the distal end of the first lumen; inserting a wire guide through the first lumen to position the distal end of the first lumen in a thrombus; positioning the second lumen proximate to the thrombus; focusing light input from a laser source into an optical fiber; generating laser output at the distal end of the optical fiber; applying a vacuum to the second lumen through a port positioned near the proximal end of the second lumen; ablating the thrombus into residual material with the laser output within the distal portion of the second lumen near the distal end; removing the residual material via the applied vacuum; pivoting the second lumen around the first lumen to reposition the second lumen proximate to a new portion of the thrombus that has not yet been ablated; ablating the new portion of the thrombus into new residual material with the laser output; and removing the new residual material via the applied vacuum.