Claims
- 1. A guidewire apparatus comprising:an elongate hollow shaft; a core wire movably disposed within the hollow shaft and having a distal end extending there from; a transition sleeve slidably disposed about a distal portion of the hollow shaft and the core wire distal end; and a tubular protection element having a distal end fixed about the transition sleeve and a proximal end rotatably coupled about the hollow shaft at a location proximal to the distal portion of the hollow shaft, the protection element having a collapsed configuration with a first length and an expanded configuration with a second length shorter than the first length.
- 2. The guidewire apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a liner interfitted between the core wire and the hollow shaft, the liner having inner and outer surfaces, wherein at least one of the surfaces has a low coefficient of friction.
- 3. The guidewire apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a tracking member being adapted to slide over another guidewire and being fixed alongside a distal end of the guidewire apparatus.
- 4. The guidewire apparatus of claim 3, wherein the tracking member is fixed alongside the core wire distal end.
- 5. The guidewire apparatus of claim 3, further having a flexible tip member fixed about the core wire distal end, wherein the tracking member is fixed alongside a distal end of the transition sleeve.
- 6. The guidewire apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:a distal stop element fixed within a distal end of the transition sleeve; and a proximal stop element fixed about the core wire distal end at a location proximal to the distal stop element; wherein the proximal stop element has a maximum transverse dimension greater than a transverse inner dimension of the distal stop element.
- 7. The guidewire apparatus of claim 6, further comprising a distal thrust bearing fitted about the core wire distal end and disposed longitudinally between the distal stop element and the proximal stop element.
- 8. The guidewire apparatus of claim 6, further comprising a flexible tip member fixed about the core wire distal end and being disposed radially between the core wire distal end and the proximal stop element.
- 9. The guidewire apparatus of claim 6, wherein the proximal and distal stop elements cooperate to limit sliding of the transition sleeve in a proximal direction along the core wire.
- 10. The guidewire apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a distal check element fixed about the hollow shaft at a location distal to the protection element proximal end.
- 11. The guidewire apparatus of claim 10, further comprising a proximal thrust bearing fitted about the hollow shaft and disposed longitudinally between the distal check element and the protection element proximal end.
- 12. The guidewire apparatus of claim 10, wherein the distal check element limits sliding of the protection element proximal end in a distal direction along the hollow shaft.
- 13. The guidewire apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a proximal check element fixed about the hollow shaft at a location proximal to the protection element proximal end.
- 14. The guidewire apparatus of claim 13, wherein the proximal check element limits sliding of the protection element proximal end in a proximal direction along the hollow shaft.
- 15. The guidewire apparatus of claim 1, wherein the protection element is a filter.
- 16. The guidewire apparatus of claim 1, wherein the protection element is an occluder.
- 17. The guidewire apparatus of claim 1, wherein the protection element is self-transformable between the collapsed configuration and the expanded configuration.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This patent application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/099,399 to Douk et al. filed Mar. 15, 2002 now pending, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/918,441 to Douk et al. filed Jul. 27, 2001, now pending, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/824,832 to Douk et al. filed Apr. 3, 2001 now pending, entitled “Temporary Intraluminal Filter Guidewire and Methods of Use.”
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Foreign Referenced Citations (7)
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Continuation in Parts (3)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
10/099399 |
Mar 2002 |
US |
Child |
10/351634 |
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US |
Parent |
09/918441 |
Jul 2001 |
US |
Child |
10/099399 |
|
US |
Parent |
09/824832 |
Apr 2001 |
US |
Child |
09/918441 |
|
US |