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US 2003/0114777 A1Published application
Super elastic guidewire with shape retention tip
AssigneeSciMed Life Systems, Inc.
InventorsStephen Griffin, Ronald A. Sahatjian
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A guidewire having a super elastic core surrounded by a shape memory polymer jacket. The super elastic core wire permits the guidewire to be navigated through tortuous vasculature without undergoing plastic deformation, and the shape memory polymer jacket permits the guidewire to be shaped by the physician.
Claims35
An intravascular guidewire, comprising:
- an elongate core wire comprising a metal;
- and
- a polymer jacket comprising a shape memory polymer surrounding a portion of the core wire, the polymer jacket being more stiff than the portion of the core wire which it surrounds.
A method of shaping a guidewire, comprising the steps of:
- providing a guidewire comprising an elongate core wire with a shape memory polymer jacket surrounding a portion of the core wire;
- deforming the polymer jacket and the portion of the core wire which it surrounds into a shape;
- heating the deformed polymer jacket to a temperature at or above a glass transition temperature of the shape memory polymer;
- and
- cooling the deformed polymer jacket to a temperature below the glass transition temperature of the shape memory polymer to maintain the shape.
2 more elements
An intravascular guidewire, comprising:
- an elongate core wire comprising a metal having an elastic limit;
- and
- a polymer jacket surrounding a distal tip portion of the core wire, the polymer jacket comprising a polymer having an elastic limit, the polymer jacket being more stiff than the distal tip portion of the core wire which it surrounds such that when the tip is deformed into a shape within the elastic limit of the metal and beyond the elastic limit of the polymer, the tip substantially retains the shape.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.