Catheters are thin tubes utilized for insertion into the vessels of a body to perform a variety of medical procedures, including draining fluids, administering fluids, measuring internal body pressures, angioplasty procedures, delivery and deployment of stents or other prostheses (e.g. heart valve prostheses), and other such procedures. The catheters are often made of highly flexible material, capable of following the path of an artery or vein until the target area is reached and the medical procedure is begun. It is, however, difficult to know the exact location of a catheter within use in the body during a medical procedure.
In some procedures, to achieve proper placement within the vessel, a physician must know the exact location of the distal end of the catheter within in the body. Fluoroscopy can be used to determine the location of a catheter within the body. Fluoroscopy is an imaging technique that utilizes a stream of X-rays to generate a series of images of the internal features of a body on a screen. The images are continuously updated in a way that resembles a real-time video. However, catheters are often made from materials that are not easily seen via fluoroscopy. Therefore, radiopaque marker bands are often added to catheters at critical locations, such as a distal end of the catheter or the location of a stent within the catheter. In another example, radiopaque material may embedded within the polymers of the catheter. In yet another example, radiopaque ink may be applied to an exterior surface of the catheter.
In many procedures, multiple catheters and other devices may be simultaneously present in the body of the patient. Therefore, while radiopaque markers enable a treating clinician to view a particular area of a catheter, the clinician may not be able to distinguish one particular catheter from other catheters or devices in the body. Additionally, information such as the catheter brand, size of a balloon or stent, batch number, etc. are of importance to prevent or eliminate the chances that one catheter or medical tool is mistaken for another.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a catheter with an identifier that can be seen under fluoroscopy and can provide certain information regarding the catheter.