Patent ID: 7033375

Claim:
A method of performing a balloon angioplasty procedure at a treatment site within a lumen defined by a wall of a vessel in a patient's vascular system comprising: providing a filter device including a guidewire and a filter element carried by the guidewire at the distal region of the guidewire, such that the filter element is advanced through the lumen of the vessel by advancing the guidewire and retracted through the lumen of the vessel by retracting the guidewire, the filter element having a distal end, the filter element being radially self-expandable from a collapsed configuration when the filter element is restrained to an expanded configuration when the filter element is unrestrained; providing a balloon catheter having an expandable balloon positioned at a distal portion of the balloon catheter; introducing the guidewire into the lumen of the vessel while the filter element is restrained in the collapsed configuration; advancing the guidewire through the lumen of the vessel until the filter element is positioned at a desired location distal to the treatment site; removing restraint on the filter element to cause the filter element to expand to its expanded configuration; advancing the balloon catheter through the vessel over the guidewire until the balloon is positioned at the treatment site; expanding the balloon to perform the angioplasty procedure; capturing emboli released from the treatment site during the angioplasty procedure in the filter element as the emboli flow with the patient's blood through the filter element; removing the balloon catheter from the vessel; collapsing the filter element; and removing the guidewire and filter element from the vessel.