Lead delivery device and method

A medical method comprising:

• providing an electrically conductive lead of a medical device comprising a distal tip portion and a lumen defined thereby terminating at a distal opening defined at the distal tip portion;
• inserting a distal end of a cannulated catheter through cardiac tissue into a main cardiac vessel, wherein the distal end of the cannulated catheter terminates in a tip opening;
• inserting a lead delivery device through the catheter and out the tip opening of the distal end thereof into the main cardiac vessel, the lead delivery device including a guidewire and a fixator coupled to the guidewire in proximity to a distal tip of the guidewire, wherein the fixator is configurable in a deployed expanded shape having a width greater than the tip opening of the distal end of the catheter and an undeployed compact shape having a width less than the tip opening of the distal end of the catheter and less than the distal opening defined at the distal tip portion of the electrically conductive lead;
• advancing the inserted lead delivery device to a target site in a branching vessel with the fixator configured in the undeployed compact shape;
• deploying the fixator, after the fixator in the undeployed compact shape has been advanced beyond the tip opening of the cannulated catheter, to the deployed expanded shape having multiple contact surfaces such that the multiple contact surfaces can press against an internal lumen of the branching vessel with a holding fixation force to temporarily anchor the guidewire of the advanced lead delivery device in the branching vessel, the holding fixation force being of an amount that allows the guidewire to be pulled in tension without being dislodged from the internal lumen of the branching vessel while the electrically conductive lead of the medical device is pushed over the guidewire, the contact surfaces of the deployed expanded shape being longitudinally offset from one another and on opposite sides of a longitudinal axis of the guidewire;
• removing the catheter, as well as any and all other catheters, from around the anchored guidewire, prior to pulling and tensioning the anchored guidewire while pushing the electrically conductive lead of the medical device over the guidewire and to the target site;
• pulling and tensioning the anchored guidewire while pushing the electrically conductive lead of the medical device over the guidewire and to the target site, after removing any and all catheters;
• returning the fixator to the undeployed compact shape, after pushing the lead to the target site;
• and
• retracting the fixator through the distal opening defined at the distal tip portion and through the lumen of the electrically conductive lead and alongside an internal conductive coil of the electrically conductive lead within the lumen, after returning the fixator to the undeployed compact shape, wherein the fixator is returned to the undeployed compact shape before the fixator in the undeployed compact shape is retracted through the distal opening defined at the distal tip portion of the electrically conductive lead.