Patent ID: 8083762
Filing Date: 2011-12-27
Classification: A61F,A61M

Abstract:
1. A method of filtering emboli from blood flowing through the lumen of a vessel comprising: providing a distal protection device including a guidewire, the guidewire having first and second elongate members and having a locked configuration in which the first elongate member is not moveable with respect to the second elongate member and an unlocked configuration in which the first elongate member is moveably connected to the second elongate member, and a filter carried by the second elongate member, the filter being expandable from a delivery configuration to an expanded deployed configuration; locking the first elongate member to the second elongate member so that their relative positions are fixed; introducing the guidewire and filter in its delivery configuration into the lumen of the vessel; advancing the guidewire through the vessel until the filter is positioned at a desired location distal to the treatment site; expanding the filter within the lumen of the vessel to its expanded deployed configuration; unlocking the first elongate member from the second elongate member so that the first elongate member is moveable with respect to the second elongate member over a range of motion from a first relative position to a second relative position without resulting in movement of the second elongate member; and filtering emboli from blood flowing through the lumen of the vessel.