Interference No. 103,270
Before CALVERT, MARTIN and LEE, Administrative Patent Judges.
CALVERT, Administrative Patent Judge.
FINAL DECISION UNDER 37 CFR § 1.658
This interference concerns a method of exchanging
catheters, typically dilatation catheters used in percutaneous
transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA). Count 2, the only
count, defines the subject matter in issue as follows:3
A method of exchanging a first catheter with a
second catheter through a guide catheter indwelling in a
living human, the first catheter having been inserted into the
indwelling guide catheter over a guidewire, at least one of
the first and second catheters having a guidewire lumen
extending the full length thereof, the method comprising the
steps of:
providing a mechanism to inhibit movement of the
guidewire relative to the guide catheter;
operating the mechanism to inhibit said relative
movement; and
exchanging the first and second catheters, while
said relative movement is inhibited by the mechanism, by
withdrawing the first catheter from the indwelling
guide catheter,
3Pursuant to motions by Keith et al. and Coelho under
37 CFR § 1.633(c)(1) (Paper Nos. 13 and 16), count 2 was
substituted for original count 1.
2
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