Appeal No. 1998-2637 Page 5
Application No. 08/470,142
Lee is directed to catheter (cannula) tubing, and discloses a catheter 10 comprising
a polymer tube 22 which encloses a plurality of polymer stiffening elements 22. A
“conventional catheter insertion device” in the form of a hollow needle 11 is provided on the
end of the tubing “for penetration of a patient’s skin and placement of the catheter into the
patient’s blood stream” (column 3, lines 11-15). It is clear from the Lee disclosure that
needle 10, and not the catheter itself, pierces the skin and it is equally clear that the needle
is not considered to be part of the catheter, for the reference states that “[c]atheter
insertion devices are conventional in the art and do not form a part of this invention”
(column 3, lines 15 and 16). The examiner nevertheless apparently considers needle 11 to
be a part of the catheter in reaching the conclusion that Lee anticipates the method of
claim 70. We do not agree with this interpretation. Moreover, there are no wires in needle
11.
It is our view that Lee fails to disclose or teach the claimed step of providing a
cannula having a sheath which at least partially encloses a plurality of wires, and the step of
“piercing a side wall of the blood vessel with a leading end portion of the cannula”
(emphasis added). This being the case, Lee does not anticipate the subject matter
recited in claim 70, and we will not sustain this rejection.
The Rejections Under Section 103
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