Patent ID: 6936041

Claim:
A venous drainage catheter comprising: a flexible elongated tubular plastic body defining a longitudinal axis and having distal and proximal ends and an interior lumen extending from the distal end to the proximal end along a longitudinal axis of the body, the interior lumen having a plurality of longitudinally spaced drainage openings formed in a reinforced opening-containing section of the body, each opening providing fluid communication between the interior lumen and the exterior of the catheter; and reinforcement embedded in the plastic body within the reinforced opening-containing section, the reinforcement comprising a plurality of annular elements spaced axially apart along the longitudinal axis, each annular element oriented substantially perpendicularly to the longitudinal axis of the body, wherein at least one of the drainage openings is disposed axially between and spaced axially from two adjacent ones of the annular elements, and no portion of the reinforcement interconnects the annular elements; wherein each annular element defines outer diameter and a length in an axial direction of the catheter, the diameter being substantially greater than the length, wherein an axial spacing between the annular elements is greater than the length of the annular elements.