Retrograde coronary sinus catheter

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Now referring to the drawing, a coronary sinus catheter assembly of the invention is indicated in its entirety by the reference numeral 10.
The coronary sinus assembly 10 includes a coronary sinus catheter 12, a malleable stylet 14 and a syringe 15 for inflating an inflatable balloon 16 mounted on the catheter 12.
A preferred stylet 14 is described in co-assigned U.
S.
patent application Ser.
No.
08/238,416, filed Apr.
28, 1994, now U.
S.
Pat.
No.
5,401,244 which is a file wrapper continuation of Ser.
No.
07/979,010, filed Nov.
19, 1992 by Christopher M.
Boyken and Thomas T.
Vaalburg (incorporated herein by reference).
An adjustable annular suture ring 17 may be provided along the catheter tube 18.
The catheter 12 is a modified version of the catheter described in U.
S.
Pat.
No.
4,927,412 (Menasche), which is incorporated herein by reference.
The catheter 12 is particularly designed for the retrograde infusion of cardioplegia solution into the coronary sinus of a patient's heart.
The catheter 12 is designed for use with either the "blind" or "open atrium" techniques.
As shown in FIG.
1, the catheter 12 generally comprises a flexible, elongate catheter tube 18 (e.
g.
, 17 French) having proximal and distal ends 20 and 22, the inflatable balloon 16 which is adapted for retaining the distal end 22 of the catheter 12 in the coronary sinus, and a pressure or inflation sensor tube 24 for sensing pressure in the balloon 16 to indicate the status of the balloon 16.
The pressure or inflation sensor tube 24 has an internal volume that is relatively non-expansible relative to the internal volume of the inflation balloon 16 in normal operation of the catheter 12.
As used herein, "proximal" and "distal" refer to opposite directions along the catheter 12.
The "distal" direction is the direction (rightwardly in FIG.
1) toward the end 22 of the catheter 12 that is inserted in the coronary sinus.
The "proximal" direction is the direction (leftwardly in FIG.
1) toward the end 20 of the catheter 12 which is connected to other components, such as tubing leading from a heat exchanger for cooling cardioplegia (not shown), of an extracorporeal support circuit (also not shown)