초록 ▼

A small diameter (no greater than about 0.020″diameter) steerable guidewire for cardiovascular surgical procedures or the like is provided with a means by which the curvature at the distal tip of the guidewire can be adjustable by control applied at the proximal end of the guidewire whereby the curv

A small diameter (no greater than about 0.020″diameter) steerable guidewire for cardiovascular surgical procedures or the like is provided with a means by which the curvature at the distal tip of the guidewire can be adjustable by control applied at the proximal end of the guidewire whereby the curve at the distal end of the guidewire can be adjusted without requiring removal of the guidewire from the patient.

대표청구항 ▼

A steerable small diameter guidewire comprising: an elongate solid wall tubular main wire having a proximal end and a distal end; an elongate helical coil spring having proximal and distal ends and being connected at its proximal end to the distal end of the main wire and extending distally of the m

A steerable small diameter guidewire comprising: an elongate solid wall tubular main wire having a proximal end and a distal end; an elongate helical coil spring having proximal and distal ends and being connected at its proximal end to the distal end of the main wire and extending distally of the main wire; a distal core wire having proximal and distal ends and being connected to and extending distally from the distal end of the main wire, the core wire extending through the lumen of the spring and having a distal tip which terminates short of the distal end of the spring; the distal end of the distal core wire being secured to the spring at a location intermediate the ends of the spring thereby to define a distal spring segment extending from the distal end of the core wire to the distal end of the spring, the distal segment being more flexible than the more proximal portions of the guidewire; means defining a pull wire opening adjacent to the distal end of the main wire proximally of the proximal end of the distal core wire; a pull wire having a proximal end and a distal end, the distal end of the pull wire being secured to the distal end of the spring, the pull wire extending proximally between the core wire and the spring and through the opening into the lumen of the main wire, the pull wire extending proximally through the lumen of the main wire to the proximal end of the main wire; whereby the proximal end of the pull wire may be pulled to apply tension to the pull wire thereby to draw at least a portion of the distal segment of the spring into a curved configuration.