Liquid core light guide for laser angioplasty

It is shown that delivery of laser energy to intravascular targets through a flowing fluid-core laser angioplasty catheter offers new design possibilities and solutions to current practical problems facing laser angioplasty. Fluid-core catheters using iodinated radiographic contrast material as the core fluid can transmit high-peak-power visible laser pulses at high efficiencies while offering improved imaging of the target and distal vasculature. These catheters are simple to produce, are optically and mechanically stable, and are compatible with conventional angioplasty equipment and techniques. In canine coronary arteries in vivo, the catheters proved to be flexible, atraumatic, and able to deliver ablative high-peak-power laser pulses