Patent ID: 7374553

Claim:
A system for steering a catheter through the vasculature of a patient using bi-directional control, said system comprising: a tubular catheter structure having a proximal end and a distal end, wherein said tubular catheter structure includes a tube having a wall with an inner surface, wherein said wall is formed with a plurality of slits to define a plurality of axially-spaced wall portions separated by said slits, and wherein a plurality of non-adiacent wall portions are indented to form a first passageway along the inner surface and a plurality of non-adjacent wall portions are indented to form a second passageway along the inner surface; a clockwise (CW) reel; a first pull wire positioned in the first passageway and having a first end attached to said catheter structure and a second end attached to said CW reel, said first pull wire for deflecting said catheter structure distal end in a first direction in response to a rotation of said CW reel about a rotation axis, wherein said first passageway maintains said first pull wire along said inner wall during a movement of said first pull wire; a counterclockwise (CCW) reel; a second pull wire positioned in the second passageway and having a first end attached to said catheter structure and a second end attached to said CCW reel, said second pull wire for deflecting said catheter structure distal end in a second direction in response to a rotation of said CCW reel about the rotation axis, with the second direction being substantially coplanar and opposite to the first direction, wherein said second passageway maintains said second pull wire along said inner wall during a movement of said second pull wire; and a means operable on said CW and CCW reels for applying a tension to said first pull wire to deflect said catheter structure distal end in the first direction and thereafter for delaying an application of tension to said second pull wire until at least a portion of said tension on said first pull wire is selectively released to respectively deflect said catheter structure distal end from the first direction to the second direction.