Described is a method and device for dilating a tubular anatomical structure. The device and method can be useful for extracting a blood clot in an artery of a mammal by concentrically irradiating an inner wall of the occluded artery using an ultraviolet (UV) laser beam delivered by an optical fiber having an external or inverted conical tip. Dilation results from photophysical production and release of nitric oxide from the cells lining the arterial wall when UV laser light is projected as a ring beam onto the inner arterial wall. This “minimal contact persistent dilation system” prepares the artery for safer mechanical extraction by thrombectomy, owing to decrease in friction and dissolution of chemical bonding. Patent issued with 25 full claims.
The device and method, which utilizes innovative ultraviolet (UV) technology, is designed to safely and effectively dilate tubular anatomical structures such as the esophagus and bronchi.
Methods are presented for the dissolution of a thrombus which occludes a blood vessel. The methods utilize the vasodilation effect produced by irradiating a blood vessel with UV laser light. The laser-induced vasodilation leads to stretching of the occluding thrombus, which becomes infiltrated with blood and quickly dissolves without the emission of emboli. Some of the methods involve combination of UV laser irradiation with thrombolytic agents, dethrombosing agents, or antiplatelet agents to enhance their effectiveness and reduce side effects.
A new, non-mechanical method of inducing the complete occlusion of arteries is disclosed. Arteries are occluded thrombotically by means of a rose bengal dye-sensitized photochemical reaction initiated in nonthrombogenic vascular endothelium by light at a wave length sufficient to electronically excite the rose bengal molecules. To blood platelets, the rose bengal-photosensitized endothelial surface becomes thrombogenic; accordingly, platelet adherence is followed by intense platelet aggregation resulting in complete occlusion of the artery.