Steerable guide wire for balloon dilatation procedure
First Claim
1. A steerable small diameter guide wire comprising:
- a main wire having a tapered distal region;
a helically wound spring at the distal region of the main wire, the tapered region of the main wire being received within the spring, the proximal end of the spring being secured to the main wire at a proximal connection adjacent to the region where the main wire begins to taper;
the distal end of the main wire terminating short of the distal end of the spring and being secured to the spring at a distal connection;
the spring having a relatively short portion which extends distally beyond the distal end of the main wire, the distally extending short portion being highly flexible and terminating in a smoothly surfaced rounded tip;
each of the main wire and the spring having an outer diameter which is no greater than about 0.020 inches, the diameter of the spring being not substantially greater than the diameter of the main wire;
the guide wire having a distal region which is adapted to be bent to a set curved configuration and to retain that set curve when the distal region of the guide wire is relaxed, said distal region of the guide wire being sufficiently flexible so as to adapt to and follow the contours of a patient'"'"'s blood vessel;
said guide wire having means sufficiently torsionally rigid along its length for transmitting to the distal end of the guide wire substantially all of the angular rotation applied to the proximal end of the guide wire thereby enabling the curved distal end of the guide wire to be controllably directed to selected branches of a patient'"'"'s vascular system.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A guide wire is provided to guide a very small diameter catheter, such as a coronary dilatation catheter used in coronary angioplasty techniques. The guide wire itself is of very small diameter, (under 0.020") yet is steerable and may be visualized fluoroscopically. The major portion of the guide wire is a small diameter flexible rod. The distal region of the rod is tapered. The tapered portion is surrounded by a helically wound spring which is brazed at its proximal and distal ends, to the base and tip, respectively, of the tapered region of the rod. A shorter segment of the spring extends beyond the distal end of the rod and serves as a highly flexible bumper to assure that the distal tip of the guide wire will not cause traumatic injury to the blood vessel. The distal region of the guide can be bent manually by the surgeon to a curved shape which it will tend to assume when relaxed. The distal region is flexible and can bend from the set curve to follow the contour of the blood vessel. The distal end of the wire can be steered by manipulation and rotation of the proximal end of the guide. At least the spring portion of the guide wire is formed from a material having a high degree of radiopacity to facilitate its fluoroscopic observation. Also disclosed is a combination of such a spring guide with a coronary dilatation catheter.
539 Citations
70 Claims
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1. A steerable small diameter guide wire comprising:
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a main wire having a tapered distal region; a helically wound spring at the distal region of the main wire, the tapered region of the main wire being received within the spring, the proximal end of the spring being secured to the main wire at a proximal connection adjacent to the region where the main wire begins to taper; the distal end of the main wire terminating short of the distal end of the spring and being secured to the spring at a distal connection; the spring having a relatively short portion which extends distally beyond the distal end of the main wire, the distally extending short portion being highly flexible and terminating in a smoothly surfaced rounded tip; each of the main wire and the spring having an outer diameter which is no greater than about 0.020 inches, the diameter of the spring being not substantially greater than the diameter of the main wire; the guide wire having a distal region which is adapted to be bent to a set curved configuration and to retain that set curve when the distal region of the guide wire is relaxed, said distal region of the guide wire being sufficiently flexible so as to adapt to and follow the contours of a patient'"'"'s blood vessel; said guide wire having means sufficiently torsionally rigid along its length for transmitting to the distal end of the guide wire substantially all of the angular rotation applied to the proximal end of the guide wire thereby enabling the curved distal end of the guide wire to be controllably directed to selected branches of a patient'"'"'s vascular system. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 51, 55)
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21. A small diameter steerable guide wire comprising:
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a main wire having a distal region; a helically wound spring connected to the main wire at the distal region and receiving the distal region therein; said guide wire being constructed and arranged so that the portion thereof located proximally of the distal region of the main wire is of substantially uniform flexibility along its length; that portion of the guide wire which includes the distal region of the main wire and that portion of the helically wound spring which surrounds the distal region being of increasing flexibility in a distal direction the spring having a distal extension which extends beyond the distal end of the main wire, the distal extension being of substantially uniform flexibility along its length, said distal extension being the most flexible of all of said portions of the guide wire; the main wire and spring having substantially the same outer diameter, said diameter being no greater than about 0.020 inches; that portion of the guide wire which includes the distal region of the main wire being adapted to be bent to a set curved configuration but being sufficiently flexible from said set curved configuration so as to adapt to and follow the contours of a patient'"'"'s blood vessel; the guide wire having means sufficiently torsionally rigid along its length for transmitting to the distal end of the guide wire substantially all of the angular rotation applied to the proximal end of the guide wire thereby enabling said guide wire with a set curved configuration at its distal region to be controllably directed to selected branches of a patient'"'"'s vascular system. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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32. A small diameter steerable guide wire having a proximal end and a distal end comprising:
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a main wire having a distal region which is tapered toward the distal end of the wire; a helically wound spring at the distal region of the main wire, the tapered portion of the main wire being received within the spring, the spring having a proximal end secured to the main wire at a proximal connection adjacent to the region where the main wire begins to taper; the distal end of the main wire being secured to the spring at a location distal of said proximal connection; each of said main wire and spring having an outer diameter which is no greater than about 0.020 inches, the diameter of the spring being not substantially greater than the diameter of the main wire; the distal end of the guide wire being adapted to be bent to a set curved configuration and to retain that set curved configuration when relaxed, said distal end being sufficiently flexible so as to adapt to and follow the contours of a patient'"'"'s blood vessel; the guide wire having means sufficiently torsionally rigid along its length for transmitting to the distal end of the guide wire substantially all of the angular rotation applied to the proximal end of the guide wire thereby enabling said guide wire with prebent distal end to be controllably directed to selected branches of a patient'"'"'s vascular system. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49)
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50. A steerable small diameter guide wire having a proximal end and a distal end comprising:
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a main wire having a proximal end and a distal region; a helically wound spring connected to the distal region of the main wire, the length of the spring comprising a relatively short portion of the overall length of the guide wire and the main wire comprising the major portion of the overall length of the guide wire; the spring being formed at least in part from a material having a high radiopacity; each of said main wire and spring having a maximum diameter which does not exceed 0.020 inches; the distal end of the guide wire being constructed to be bendable to a set curved configuration and to retain that set curve when relaxed, said bendable distal end being sufficiently flexible so as to adapt to and follow the contours of a patient'"'"'s blood vessel; the guide wire having means sufficiently torsionally rigid along its length for transmitting to the distal end of the guide wire substantially all of the angular rotation applied to the proximal end of the guide wire thereby enabling the guide wire with prebent distal end to be controllably directed to selected branches of a patient'"'"'s vascular system. - View Dependent Claims (52, 53, 54, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64)
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65. A steerable small diameter guide wire having a proximal end and a distal end comprising:
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a main wire having a proximal end and a distal region; a helically wound spring connected to the distal region of the main wire, the length of the spring comprising a relatively short portion of the overall length of the guide wire and the main wire comprising the major portion of the overall length of the guide wire; each of said main wire and spring having a maximum diameter which does not exceed 0.020 inches; the distal end of the guide wire being constructed to be bendable to a set curved configuration and to retain that set curve when relaxed, said bendable distal end being sufficiently flexible so as to adapt to and follow the contours of a patient'"'"'s blood vessel; the guide wire having means sufficiently torsionally rigid along its length for transmitting to the distal end of the guide wire substantially all of the angular rotation applied to the proximal end of the guide wire thereby enabling the guide wire with prebent distal end to be controllably directed to selected branches of the vascular system. - View Dependent Claims (66, 67, 69, 70)
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68. A guide wire as defined in claim 68 wherein the outer diameter of each of the main wire and spring are substantially the same.
Specification