PATENT CLAIM ANALYSIS

Application Number: 16273126
Application Type: Utility
Filing Date: 2019-02
Publication Date: 2019-08
Patent Classification: ["604", "528000"]

Abstract:
Described herein are methods of using bend-limited catheters that are freely bendable at angles greater than the locking bend angle, e.g., when the bend radius is less than the locking bend radius. The device will limit or prevent bending beyond the locking bend angle.

Claim (Index 27):
A method of providing catheter access to a target region of a vessel within a patient's body, the method comprising:\n advancing a bend-limited catheter device over a guidewire or guide catheter into the vessel until the distal end of the bend-limited catheter device is adjacent to the target region, wherein the bend-limited catheter comprises a tubular body having a first region of one or more cut-out kerfs forming a pattern of interlocking and alternating teeth extending around the tubular body, wherein each tooth of the interlocking and alternating teeth comprises a head region that is wider than a base region, arranged so that the head regions alternate with base regions radially around the tubular body, so that the first region bends freely in a direction out of a long axis of the catheter device up to a locking radius, beyond which the tubular body does not allow further bending in the direction; removing the guidewire at least partially out of the bend-limited catheter; and advancing the proximal end of the bend-limited catheter so that the bend-limited catheter locks within the vessel by bending the first region to the locking radius without moving the distal end of the bend-limited catheter from the target region, wherein the first region of the tubular body of the bend-limited catheter bends freely with a lateral stiffness for a distal 10 cm of the catheter that is less than 50 grams in a direction out of a long axis of the catheter device up to the locking radius.

Metadata:
- Claim Count in Document: 12.0
- Percentile: 99.0
- Lexical Diversity: 1.41176
- Patent Class: 604.0
- Transitional Phrase Type: open
- Component Type: 1
- Foreign Priority: False
- Related Applications: ['15515806', '10819358', '15065938', '12543941', '12689748']

Analysis Scores:
- 35 USC 101 Eligibility (BERT): 0.7818838287007907
- 35 USC 102 Novelty (BERT): 0.4760734126122917
- Combined Prediction Score: 0.7513027870919409
- Mean Citation Score: 203.364456
- Max Citation Score: 212.3154
- Similarity Product: 161.56382686707974

Labels:
- Claim Label 101: 1
- Claim Label 102: 1
- Claim Label 103: 1
- Claim Label 112: 0
- Combined Label: 1
- Label 101 Adjusted: 1

Dataset: test