Blood vessel sensing catheter having working lumen for medical appliances

Abstract

Devices and methods are disclosed for providing a sensing element to scan tissue and detect the presence of structures within the tissue to avoid the structures when performing a procedure on the tissue. A catheter includes a blood vessel sensing assembly and a working lumen adapted to receive a medical appliance or instrument for performing various medical procedures.

1 . A method for performing a surgical procedure on tissue in an organ, the method comprising:
 advancing a far end of a catheter into a body passageway and in the vicinity of the tissue where the catheter has a working channel and a sensing element assembly that is affixed to the catheter and is offset from an axis of the working channel;   sensing for the absence of blood vessels along the body passageway using the sensing element assembly associated with the far end of the catheter;   extending a working tip of a medical appliance from the working channel at the far end of the catheter, through a wall of the body passageway, and into the tissue such that catheter does not obscure the sensing element assembly; and   performing the surgical procedure with the appliance.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , where the medical appliance is a biopsy coring device. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising the step of advancing a scope into the body passageway, and advancing the catheter through a lumen in the scope. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , where the far end of the catheter comprises a distal opening for the working tip of the medical appliance to exit, and wherein the opening is beveled. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the sensing element assembly is positioned distal to the distal opening. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , where the medical appliance comprises an aspiration needle, a transbronchial aspiration needle, a forceps, a brush, and a biopsy coring device. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , where the sensing element comprises an element selected from the group consisting of a Doppler Ultrasound transducer assembly, temperature detecting element, and a light detecting element. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , where the far end of the catheter comprises a distal opening for said working tip of said medical appliance to exit, and wherein said opening is beveled. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , where the sensing element comprises a stiff portion extending from the far end of the catheter, and where sensing for the absence of blood vessels comprises probing tissue with the stiff portion of the sensing element. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , where the near end of the catheter comprises a handle portion having an actuator, and moving the actuator to advance and retract the medical appliance at the opening.