Patent ID: 8162975

Claim:
A system for closing a percutaneous puncture in a blood vessel, the system including: a delivery catheter comprising an elongate flexible shaft having a proximal end and a tapered portion at a distal end and a single blood marking side port spaced proximally of the shaft taper and being in fluid communication with only the shaft proximal end via a blood marking lumen extending axially through the shaft, the catheter further comprising a balloon affixed about the shaft between the shaft tapered portion and the blood marking side port and being in fluid communication with the shaft proximal end via an inflation lumen extending axially through the shaft; a closure device mounted about the balloon, the closure device comprising a tubular membrane having open proximal and distal ends and an axially contracted mounted length shorter than an axially expanded length, the closure device further comprising a radially expandable tubular anchor attached to the distal end of the membrane such that a trailing portion of the membrane extends proximally from the anchor when the closure device is in an axially expanded configuration, the closure device adapted for transformation between: a mounted configuration wherein the anchor and the membrane are radially compressed about the shaft and the length of the membrane is the mounted length; a radially expanded configuration wherein the anchor and the membrane are radially expanded and the length of the membrane is the mounted length; and the axially expanded configuration wherein the anchor and the membrane are radially expanded and the length of the membrane is the axially expanded length; a tubular sheath having an initial position disposed about the shaft and the closure device, the sheath having a blood marking port in registry with the blood marking port of the shaft when the sheath is in its initial position, the sheath being retractable from its initial position proximally to expose the balloon and the anchor of the closure device; and wherein the balloon is spaced from the catheter blood marking port by a distance less than the axially expanded length of the membrane, and the balloon is inflatable to transform the closure device from the mounted configuration to the radially expanded configuration; and wherein the membrane is sufficiently flexible such that the closure device is transformable from the radially expanded configuration to the axially expanded configuration under the influence of a patient's blood flow therethrough.