CATHETER WITH ACTUATING ELEMENT FROM SHAPE-MEMORY ALLOY Russian patent published in 2015 - IPC A61B8/12 

FIELD: medicine.

SUBSTANCE: invention refers to medical equipment, namely to catheters for ultrasonic-based imaging. A catheter comprises an elongated body, a distal end element forming a closed cavity containing a fluid, an ultrasonic probe immersed into the fluid and suitable for fluctuations and swivel motion in the angular range about an axis of rotation extending along the length of the distal end element inside the closed cavity; the axis of rotation is fixed in relation to the distal end element, and first and second shape-memory elements functionally connected to the ultrasonic probe; the first and second shape-memory elements are activated time-biased at a part of swivel fluctuations of the ultrasonic probe. A method of using the catheter consists in the first activation of the first shape-memory element for rotating the ultrasonic probe in the first direction about the axis of rotation extending along the length of the distal end element of the catheter, the second activation of the second shape-memory element for rotating the ultrasonic probe in the second direction about the axis of rotation opposite the first direction; the recurrence of the first and second stages of activation in accordance with the pre-set cycle for providing the swivel fluctuations of the ultrasonic probe within the angular range about the axis of rotation and the control of the ultrasonic probe for performing at least one action from transmitting and receiving acoustic signals through the fluid during each session. The actuating element comprises a body forming the closed cavity containing the fluid, the first and second shape-memory elements, first and second heat-insulating layers surrounding a segment of the first shape-memory element and a segment of the second shape-memory element respectively.

EFFECT: using invention enables controllability and reliability of the loaded fluctuations, as well as with compact size and low energy consumption in the actuating elements of the catheters for imaging.

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