Blood clot filtering system

Abstract

A blood clot filtering system including an anchor which is permanently affixed in a blood vessel, and a filter which is removably attached to the anchor.

What we claim is:  
     
         1 . A blood clot filtering system comprising: 
 an anchor including means for permanently emplacing the anchor in a blood vessel; and    a blood clot filter removably attached to the anchor.    
     
     
         2 . The blood clot filtering system of  claim 1  in which the anchor is radially self-expanding.  
     
     
         3 . The blood clot filtering system of  claim 2  in which the anchor is made of a metal spring wire material bent into a close zig-zag formation, with alternating zig and zag legs meeting at sharp angles at their distal and proximal vertices.  
     
     
         4 . The blood clot filtering system of  claim 3  in which there are 6-18 zig and zag legs.  
     
     
         5 . The blood clot filtering system of  claim 3  in which the anchor is made of a series of separate wire segments.  
     
     
         6 . The blood clot filtering system of  claim 3  in which the wire spring material is chosen from the group consisting of stainless steel and nitiniol.  
     
     
         7 . The blood clot filtering system of  claim 3  in which spring hinges are formed at each of the vertices.  
     
     
         8 . The blood clot filtering system of  claim 7  in which the spring hinges are offset from each other.  
     
     
         9 . The blood clot filtering system of  claim 3  in which at least two hooks are provided respectively at at least two distal vertices space equidistantly on a circle defined by the distal vertices.  
     
     
         10 . The blood clot filtering system of  claim 5  in which hooks are provided at at least two distal vertices and the hooks are formed from protruding end portions of the separate wire segments.  
     
     
         11 . The blood clot filtering system of  claim 1  in which the blood clot filter includes two stages which cooperate to provide enhanced clot catching.  
     
     
         12 . The blood clot filtering system of  claim 11  in which the first stage comprises a series of distally projecting legs evenly spaced about the longitudinal axis of the system.  
     
     
         13 . The blood clot filtering system of  claim 12  in which three or more evenly spaced distally projecting legs are provided.  
     
     
         14 . The blood clot filtering system of  claim 12  in which the distally projecting legs are made of a spring-like material that gives each leg rigidity along its longitudinal axis while permitting each leg to flex laterally.  
     
     
         15 . The blood clot filtering system of  claim 14  in which the distally projecting legs, in their fully open, non-in vivo position, are at an angle ranging from about 2° to about 22° to the longitudinal axis of the system.  
     
     
         16 . The blood clot filtering system of  claim 14  in which the distally projecting legs, in their fully open, non-in vivo position, are at an angle of about 12° to the longitudinal axis of the system.  
     
     
         17 . The blood clot filtering system of  claim 14  in which the distally projecting legs are made from stainless steel wire having a diameter of about 0.008 inch to 0.012 inch.  
     
     
         18 . The blood clot filtering system of  claim 12  in which the first stage is also provided with a series of flexible filamentous tethers.  
     
     
         19 . The blood clot filtering system of  claim 18  in which the flexible filamentous tethers cooperate with the distally projecting legs to aid in catching clots.  
     
     
         20 . The blood clot filtering system of  claim 18  in which the tethers are located between adjacent pairs of distally extending legs.  
     
     
         21 . The blood clot filtering system of  claim 18  in which the tethers are made of a material chosen from the group consisting of nitinol, stainless steel, and synthetic filamentous materials.  
     
     
         22 . The blood clot filtering system of  claim 18  in which the tethers are flat are made from nitinol, and have a width of about 0.005 inch.  
     
     
         23 . The blood clot filtering system of  claim 18  in which the tethers extend between the filter and the anchor to removably attach the filter to the anchor.  
     
     
         24 . The blood clot filtering system of  claim 11  in which the second stage comprises a series of generally radially projecting legs generally evenly spaced about the longitudinal axis of the system.  
     
     
         25 . The blood clot filtering system of  claim 24  in which each of the second stage legs is positioned so that, in the deployed filter, it will generally bisect the space between each of the distally projecting legs and its adjacent tether.  
     
     
         26 . The blood clot filtering system of  claim 24  in which about 6 to 12 radially projecting second stage legs are provided.  
     
     
         27 . The blood clot filtering system of  claim 24  in which the radially projecting legs are made of a spring-like material that gives each leg rigidity along its longitudinal axis while permitting each leg to flex laterally.  
     
     
         28 . The blood clot filtering system of  claim 24  in which the radially projecting legs, in their fully open, non-in vivo position, are at an angle ranging from about 50° to about 90° to the longitudinal axis of the filter.  
     
     
         29 . The blood clot filtering system of  claim 24  in which the radially projecting legs, in their fully open, non-in vivo position, are at an angle of about 70° to the longitudinal axis of the filter.  
     
     
         30 . The blood clot filtering system of  claim 24  in which the radially projecting legs are made from stainless steel wire having a diameter of about 0.008 inch to 0.012 inch.  
     
     
         31 . The blood clot filtering system of  claim 24  in which the radially projecting legs are made from round wire.  
     
     
         32 . The blood clot filtering system of  claim 1  in which the surfaces of the anchor are coated with a surface modifier for reducing or preventing endothelializtion.  
     
     
         33 . The blood clot filtering system of  claim 32  in which the surface modifier is chosen from the group consisting of rapamycin and paclitaxil.  
     
     
         34 . The blood clot filtering system of  claim 18  in which the filter includes means for removably retaining at least one end of each of the flexible filamentous tethers.  
     
     
         35 . The blood clot filtering system of  claim 34  in which the retaining means comprises a spring-loaded jaw.  
     
     
         36 . The blood clot filtering system of  claim 35  in which one end of each tether is fixed to the jaw, and the opposite end passes through a proximal vertex of the anchor and back to the jaw where it is removably held so that, when the tether end is released from the jaw, the filter may be detached from the anchor.  
     
     
         37 . The blood clot filtering system of  claim 35  in which the spring-loaded jaw includes a conical cavity and a conical member shaped and sized to seat displaceably therein under a spring force provided by the jaw, with at least a portion of the outer surface of the conical member abutting at least a portion of the inner surface of the conical cavity, whereby at least one end of each of the flexible filamentous tethers is removably retained between the abutting surfaces of the conical cavity and the conical member.  
     
     
         38 . The blood clot filtering system of  claim 37  in which one end of each of the flexible filamentous tethers is removably retained between the abutting surfaces of the conical cavity and the conical member and the other end of each of the flexible filamentous tethers is fixed to the jaw.  
     
     
         39 . The blood clot filtering system of  claim 36  in which the anchor is made of a metal spring wire material bent into a close zig-zag formation, with alternating zig and zag legs meeting at sharp angles at their distal and proximal vertices and the tethers pass through selected ones of the proximal vertices.  
     
     
         40 . The blood clot filtering system of  claim 39  in which spring hinges are formed at the vertices and the tethers pass through the spring hinges at the proximal vertices.  
     
     
         41 . The blood clot filtering system of  claim 35  in which movable abutting surfaces of the jaw are coated with a material which minimizes sticking.  
     
     
         42 . The blood clot filtering system of  claim 40  in which the tethers each pass through more than one of the spring hinges.  
     
     
         43 . The blood clot filtering system of  claim 41  in which the coating is chosen from the group consisting of silicone grease and polytetrafluoroethylene.  
     
     
         44 . A blood clot filter emplacement system comprising a blood clot filter system having an anchor with means for permanently emplacing the anchor in a blood vessel and a blood clot filter removably attached to the anchor, and means for emplacing the system in a blood vessel.  
     
     
         45 . The blood clot emplacement system of  claim 44  in which the emplacing means includes a flexible receiving catheter for retaining the filtering system in a radially collapsed pre-loaded configuration prior to emplacement and for positioning the catheter in the desired location in a blood vessel, and means for deploying the filter system from the catheter into the blood vessel.  
     
     
         46 . A blood clot filter removal system for use with a blood clot filtering system, as in  claim 36 , which has previously been emplaced in a blood vessel, comprising means for first unseating the conical member from the conical cavity of the jaw, thereby permitting at least one end of each of the tethers to be released from the jaw, and then withdrawing the filter from the vessel.  
     
     
         47 . The blood clot filtering system of  claim 46  in which the means for unseating comprises a hook associated with the conical member of the jaw, means for snaring the hook and means for restraining the jaw while the hook is pulled upwardly to unseat the conical member.  
     
     
         48 . The blood clot filter removal system of  claim 46  including umbrella means for deploying during removal of the filter to capture any clots that are freed during the removal process.  
     
     
         49 . A method for emplacing a radially compressible blood clot filter in a blood vessel to provide either permanent or temporary protection from emboli comprising: 
 providing a blood clot filtering system including an anchor with means for permanently emplacing the anchor in the blood vessel and a blood clot filter removably attached to the anchor by flexible tethers;    radially collapsing the blood clot filtering system, deploying the system in the vessel at the desire location with the anchor permanently emplaced, and permitting the system to expand radially in the vessel; and    if and when it is desired to remove the filter, detaching the filter from the anchor and removing the filter from the anchor by passing it up through the blood vessel and out of the body.