ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 5 -- United States Patent no. 12,274,467, issued on April 15, was assigned to KANEKA Corp. (Osaka, Japan).
"Balloon catheter" was invented by Masahiro Kojima (Settsu, Japan), Takahisa Hamabuchi (Osaka, Japan) and Masato Tsueda (Settsu, Japan).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Disclosed is a balloon catheter that can prevent or reduce axial rotation and circumferential shift of the elongate body while ensuring good passage of the balloon in the blood vessel. The balloon catheter (100) has a shaft (110); a balloon (120); an elongate body (180) extending along the shaft (110) and having a body tissue contacting part at its distal end part; and an elongate body lumen (130), the ...