Patent ID: 7341571

Claim:
A balloon catheter, comprising: a) an elongated shaft having an inflation lumen and a guidewire lumen; b) a balloon on a distal shaft section with an interior in fluid communication with the inflation lumen; and c) a multilayered distal tip bonded to the catheter shaft at a distal end of the catheter by a bond joint, having an inner layer, an outer layer, and a different polymeric composition than a portion of the shaft which defines the guidewire lumen and which is proximally adjacent to the tip so that the tip is softer than the proximally adjacent shaft portion, wherein the bond joint includes a bond between the inner layer of the tip and the proximally adjacent shaft portion, and the inner layer of the tip comprises a polymeric material having a coefficient of friction and surface energy lower than the outer layer such that the inner layer has a lubricious, non-polar inner surface which is repulsive to polar liquids and which defines a lumen therein in communication with the guidewire lumen of the shaft.