Patent ID: 6251084
Filing Date: 2001-06-26
Classification: A61M

Abstract:
A method of exchanging a first catheter with a second catheter through a guide catheter indwelling in a living human, the first catheter having been inserted into the indwelling guide catheter over a guidewire, at least one of the first and second catheters having a guidewire lumen extending the full length thereof, the method comprising the steps of:providing a mechanism to inhibit movement of the guidewire relative to the guide catheter;operating the mechanism to inhibit said relative movement; andexchanging said first and second catheters, while said relative movement is inhibited by the mechanism, bywithdrawing the first catheter from the indwelling guide catheter,separating the first catheter completely from the guidewire, andthen inserting the second catheter into the indwelling guide catheter over the guidewire.