Abstract: A catheter which exhibits excellent anti-kinking properties while avoiding interference with respect to an object moving inside the lumen of the catheter includes: an elongated catheter main body having a longitudinally extending lumen; a tubular-shaped guide wire insertion portion on the distal end of the catheter main body through which a guide wire is insertable, and which includes a distal opening portion and a proximal opening portion; and a reinforcement portion having a coil portion in which at least a portion of the reinforcement portion is arranged proximally of the proximal opening portion and is formed by a wound wire element, and an extension portion extending from the wire element of the coil portion in the distal direction away from the proximal opening portion, and wherein the reinforcement portion is positioned between the inner surface and the outer surface of the lumen of the catheter main body.

Abstract: A probe for insertion into a living body includes a sheath configured to be inserted into a living body, and a shaft positioned in the sheath. The shaft includes a tip portion configured to obtain diagnostic data at a distal portion thereof. The sheath includes a resin layer or a metal layer of at least one layer, and wherein the resin layer or the metal layer includes a spiral-shaped slit which is continuous from a distal portion to a proximal portion. The spiral-shaped slit includes a distal slit portion having the highest slit density, a middle slit portion which is continuous with the distal slit portion and which also has a lower slit density than the distal slit portion, and a proximal slit portion which is continuous with the middle slit portion and which also has a higher slit density than the middle slit portion.

Abstract: A catheter which exhibits excellent anti-kinking properties while avoiding interference with respect to an object moving inside the lumen of the catheter includes: an elongated catheter main body having a longitudinally extending lumen; a tubular-shaped guide wire insertion portion on the distal end of the catheter main body through which a guide wire is insertable, and which includes a distal opening portion and a proximal opening portion; and a reinforcement portion having a coil portion in which at least a portion of the reinforcement portion is arranged proximally of the proximal opening portion and is formed by a wound wire element, and an extension portion extending from the wire element of the coil portion in the distal direction away from the proximal opening portion, and wherein the reinforcement portion is positioned between the inner surface and the outer surface of the lumen of the catheter main body.

Abstract: A catheter device for an optical coherence tomography apparatus is configured to enhance the resolution of the cross-sectional image in the azimuthal direction. The catheter device includes a drive shaft driven to rotate in a catheter sheath, an optical fiber in the drive shaft and driven to rotate with the drive shaft, and an optical component attached to a distal portion of the optical fiber. The catheter device emits light, transmitted in the optical fiber, into a body cavity through the optical component. A surface on the optical path of the optical component is a curved surface facing the drive shaft direction or the azimuthal direction to ensure that, when light emitted from the optical component is radiated into the body cavity via the catheter sheath, the difference between the diameter of the radiated light in the drive axis direction and the azimuthal direction is reduced.

Abstract: A probe for insertion into a living body includes a sheath configured to be inserted into a living body, and a shaft positioned in the sheath. The shaft includes a tip portion configured to obtain diagnostic data at a distal portion thereof. The sheath includes a resin layer or a metal layer of at least one layer, and wherein the resin layer or the metal layer includes a spiral-shaped slit which is continuous from a distal portion to a proximal portion. The spiral-shaped slit includes a distal slit portion having the highest slit density, a middle slit portion which is continuous with the distal slit portion and which also has a lower slit density than the distal slit portion, and a proximal slit portion which is continuous with the middle slit portion and which also has a higher slit density than the middle slit portion.

Abstract: A medical catheter includes a proximal tube portion and a distal tube portion, and at least the proximal tube portion is composed of a multilayered structure that includes a metal layer and a resin layer. The proximal tube portion has a metal layer therein, which is at least partly treated, for example physically or chemically, to remove a portion of the metal layer and produce a metal layer having a cross-sectional area which varies in the lengthwise direction.

Abstract: A probe which is adapted to repeatedly transmit and receive signals during radial scanning within a body cavity to acquire reflected signals and transmit the reflected signals to an image diagnostic apparatus which, on a basis of the reflected signals, forms and outputs a tomographic image of the body cavity and biotissue surrounding the body cavity includes a hollow shaft for transmitting rotational drive force to perform the radial scanning, and a transmission line extending along the shaft to transmit the reflected signals to the image diagnostic apparatus. The shaft receives the rotational drive force via a torque limiter which possesses a thickness which is non-uniform in a circumferential direction at a part of the torque limiter along a length of the torque limiter.