Patent ID: 8435225

Claim:
A method to occlude fluid flow in a body vessel and to remove fluid located distal to a site of occlusion, comprising: introducing a catheter into a blood vessel wherein the catheter is comprised of a single occluding member located at the distal end of the catheter, an outer elongated hollow shaft lumen configured for introduction into a blood vessel, and an inner elongated and hollow shaft configured to slide longitudinally within the outer shaft lumen and extendable distal of the occluding member, wherein the inner shaft terminates in a rinse head having one or more rinse holes that traverse a side wall of the rinse head and lacks an expandable occluder; expanding the occluding member to produce a distal occlusion of the body vessel; introducing fluid contents of an inner shaft lumen through the one or more rinse holes in the region distal of the distal occlusion in a flow pattern determined by the arrangement of the one or more rinse holes and directed toward side walls of the body vessel; and removing fluid distal of the distal occlusion through an efflux port in fluid communication with the outer shaft lumen that provides for the removal of fluid and material through an opening distal of the distal occlusion.