Patent ID: 8852178

Claim:
A catheter for use in conjunction with a reference location to treat a blood vessel, the catheter comprising: an elongate member having a distal end and a proximal end, the elongate member configured for insertion, with the distal end leading, into a blood vessel; an energy treatment element toward the distal end of the elongate member, the energy treatment element having a distal and a proximal end and a treatment length, wherein the energy treatment element comprises an expandable resistive element on a balloon, the balloon being configured to expand and collapse the energy treatment element; a plurality of index markings marked on the elongate member and configured to be movably indexed in a distal to proximal direction to position the energy treatment element at sequential locations along the length of the blood vessel via movement of the elongate shaft in the distal to proximal direction; and at least one final marking on the elongate member that indicates a distance from the final marking to the proximal end of the energy treatment element; wherein consecutive index markings are spaced apart by a movement length that is related to, but smaller than the treatment length, such that the movement length is about 1% to about 15% less than the treatment length and is thus configured to provide overlap of consecutive treated segments of the blood vessel when the energy treatment element is moved along the blood vessel; and wherein relative axial positions of the energy treatment element and the plurality of index markings along a length of the elongate member are fixed.