Angioplasty dilating guide wire

Abstract From the Canadian patent

A dilating guide wire for use in percutaneous transluminal angioplasty has a very small outside diameter which permits it to be used advantageously with a percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) catheter for treatment of very tight stenoses in the coronary arteries that cannot be treated by conventional PTCA catheters alone. The dilating guide wire is small enough to pass through the through lumen of the PTCA catheter and extend beyond the distal tip thereof for predilating the stenosis to open it sufficiently for subsequent crossing and dilation by the PTCA catheter. According to a preferred form of the invention, the dilating guide wire has a hollow core communicating to a …