| abstract |
A balloon catheter used for intra-aortic balloon pumping (IABP). In the balloon catheter, an outer diameter of a catheter tube is not made constant in the axial direction. Rather, the outer diameter of the catheter tube from a hemostatic valve to a bifurcation, the portion which is positioned outside the patient's blood vessel, is made 3 to 30 percent larger than the outer diameter of the catheter tube from the balloon portion to the hemostatic valve, which is positioned inside the patient's blood vessel. The bifurcation has a first passage and a second passage. The first passage is communicating with a shuttle gas port and is disposed straight along the direction of the axial center of the catheter tube. In the balloon catheter, improvements in a channel resistance of a shuttle gas and in the response can be expected compared with the conventional balloon catheter, where the blood pressure measurement port (the second passage) was disposed straight along the direction of the axial center of the catheter tube and the outer diameter of the catheter tube was made constant in the axial direction. |