Importance

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Abstract

The invention provides a method and device for heating or cooling a surrounding fluid in a feeding vessel. The device includes a catheter assembly capable of insertion to a selected feeding vessel in the vascular system of a patient. The assembly includes a heat transfer element at a distal end of the catheter assembly, the heat transfer element having a plurality of exterior surface irregularities shaped and arranged to create turbulence in a surrounding fluid, the surface irregularities having a depth at least equal to the boundary layer thickness of flow of the surrounding fluid in the feeding vessel. The assembly also includes a supply catheter to deliver a working fluid to an interior of the heat transfer element, a return catheter to return a working fluid from the interior of the heat transfer element, and a drug delivery catheter running substantially parallel to the axis of the catheter assembly. The method includes selectively controlling the temperature of a selected volume of blood in a patient by introducing a catheter assembly into a blood vessel feeding a selected volume of blood in a patient and delivering a working fluid through a supply catheter in the catheter assembly and returning the working fluid through a return catheter in the catheter assembly. Heat is transferred between a heat transfer element forming a distal end of the catheter assembly and the volume of blood in the feeding vessel. A liquid, such as a drug, is delivered through a drug delivery catheter to the volume of blood in the feeding vessel.

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First Claim