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Variable stiffness guide wire

  • US 4,215,703 A
  • Filed: 08/29/1978
  • Issued: 08/05/1980
  • Est. Priority Date: 08/29/1978
  • Status: Expired due to Term
First Claim
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1. A variable stiffness vascular guide wire for use with a flexible catheter, comprising an elongated flexible closely helically wound wire coil, an elongated stiffness control means comprising a series of core wires connected at one end to the wire coil adjacent the distal end of the guide wire and extending through substantially the entire length of the interior of the wire coil to the proximal end of the guide wire, and actuator handle means secured at said proximal end to one end of the wire coil and to the other end of the wires of the stiffness control means, said guide wire having unrestricted flexibility in bending when the wires of said stiffness control means are axially unstressed and having increasing inflexibility in bending as axial tension in said wires is increased within the confines of said wire coil, said actuator handle means including means for adjusting the relative axial displacement of the one end of the wire coil with respect to the other end of the wires of the stiffness control means to vary the tensional force in said stiffness control means.

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