Patent ID: 8827928

Claim:
A guide wire comprising: a flexible elongate solid wire body possessing a distal portion terminating at a distal-most end and a proximal portion terminating at a proximal-most end, at least a part of the distal portion of the wire body possessing a tapering outside diameter at which the outside diameter of the wire body becomes smaller toward the distal-most end of the wire body; a projection fixed to the wire body, the projection projecting radially outwardly from the wire body, the projection possessing a proximal portion terminating at a proximal-most end and a distal portion terminating at a distal-most end, the projection possessing a circumferentially continuous annular shape, the proximal-most end of the projection being spaced distally from the proximal-most end of the wire body and the distal-most end of the projection being spaced proximally from the distal-most end of the wire body; a coating layer fixed to and covering at least a part of the distal portion of the wire body, the coating layer being formed of a resin material, the projection being made of a material different from the resin material forming the coating layer, the coating layer possessing a proximal-most end and a distal-most end, the proximal-most end of the coating layer being located distally of the proximal-most end of the wire body, the proximal-most end of the coating layer possessing an outer diameter; the coating layer possessing a proximal-most end point, the projection possessing a distal-most end point, and the distal-most end point of the projection contacting the proximal-most end point of the coating layer; and the projection possessing a maximum outside diameter greater than the outside diameter of the proximal-most end point of the coating layer to prevent a medical instrument from catching on the proximal-most end point of the coating layer if the proximal-most end point of the coating layer turns-up away from the wire body.