Patent ID: 9364640
Filing Date: 2016-06-14
CPC Classification: A61B,A61M

Claim Text:
1. A guidewire comprising: an elongate body formed from a tube including proximal and distal end portions, said elongate body further including an annular wall that defines an interior lumen; a proximal connector assembly coupled to said proximal end portion of said elongate body, said proximal connector assembly being configured for connection to a medical positioning system; a corewire including proximal and distal end portions, said corewire extending through said lumen; a sensor assembly located on said distal end portion of said corewire and distal of said elongate body, said sensor assembly being electrically connected by a pair of electrical conductors to said proximal connector assembly, said sensor assembly being configured to generate an electrical signal indicative of at least a position of said sensor assembly in a reference coordinate system defined in said medical positioning system; wherein said annular wall of said elongate body includes a continuous helical cutout of a uniform width extending over a predetermined length of said distal end portion of said elongate body and around an axis of the elongate body a plurality of revolutions, said continuous helical cutout being configured to increase the flexibility over said predetermined length of said distal end portion of said elongate body, and wherein an axial distance corresponding to each of the plurality of revolutions of the continuous helical cutout decreases towards a distal end of the elongate body.