US Patent 7493160 - Nanoactuated catheter

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7493160.html

Balloon catheters are often employed to repair blocked arteries. This patent from Boston Scientific teaches using buckypaper as an actuator in such balloon catheters for improvements in the actuation force. Claim 1 reads:

1. A nano-actuated medical device, comprising:

a housing sized to pass within a body lumen; and

a nanoactuator operatively associated with the housing, said nanoactuator, upon electrical energization, actuating expansion of the housing within the body lumen.