Abstract: It is well known that radiation therapy can reduce the proliferation of rapidly growing cancer cells is a malignant tumor. The present invention utilizes a radioisotope which is integral to a stent which can irradiate the tissue in close proximity to the implantation site of the stent in order to reduce the rapid growth of malignant cells in a vessel, such as a bile duct while simultaneously maintaining vessel patency. The radioisotope could be place inside the stent, alloyed into the metal from which the stent is made, or preferably, it can be coated onto the stent's exterior surface.

Abstract: A means and method is described that uses a tissue excision (atherectomy) catheter system for creating a passageway through obstructive tissue in a blood vessel of a human body such that the passageway has a greater luminal diameter than the outside diameter of a percutaneously inserted catheter used to create that passageway. A guide wire is first percutaneously inserted into the blood vessel and advanced through the obstructive tissue. A percutanesouly inserted catheter is then advanced over the guide wire and it cuts through the obstructive tissue while the blood vessel is compressed at the site of the obstructive tissue by means of an externally applied pressure cuff. The compressional force on the blood vessel is then released and the catheter and guide wire are removed from the blood vessel. This procedure results in a luminal diameter of the passageway cut in the obstructive tissue that is larger than the outside diameter of the tissue excision catheter.

Abstract: Intra-arterial stents are frequently used subsequent to balloon angioplasty to maintain arterial patency. The most frequent cause for failure to maintain patency is the rapid growth of the injured arterial tissue through the openings in the stent, which rapid growth is called "intimal hyperplasia." Since irradiation from a radioisotope source is capable of selectively inhibiting the growth of hyperproliferating cells as compared with normal cells, a radioisotope material which forms part of the stent can be used to decrease the rate of arterial reclosure. The radioisotope could be placed inside the stent, alloyed into the metal from which the stent is made, or preferably, it can be coated onto the stent's exterior surface. Beta emitting radioisotopes having a half-life between 1 and 100 days would be best suited as a stent coating because of their comparatively short range of action within human tissue, and because of their comparatively short half-life.

Abstract: An Endoluminal Tissue Excision Catheter (ETEC) is described which is capable of excising obstructive tissue from a vessel in a living body. The ETEC system operates by first passing a guide wire through the vessel and beyond the obstructive tissue. The ETEC catheter is then advanced over the guide wire until its distal end lies beyond the obstructive tissue. A closing catheter portion of ETEC is then pulled back from a cut/collect catheter portion of the ETEC thus exposing a cutting edge located at the proximal end of a cylindrical cutting blade located at a distal portion of the cut/collect catheter. A rotating means is then attached to the cut/collect catheters'3 s proximal end. The cut/collect catheter is then pulled back in a retrograde direction while rotating, thus cutting and collecting the excised obstructive tissue into a tissue collection chamber that is formed within the cylindrical cutting blade.