Patent ID: 8241311

Claim:
A method for bypassing an occlusion in a blood vessel having a wall and a subintimal tract that has been formed in the wall adjacent to the occlusion, said method comprising the steps of: transluminally advancing a subintimal reentry guidewire through the subintimal tract from a near side of the occlusion to a position where a distal end of the subintimal reentry guidewire is positioned in the subintimal tract on a far side of the occlusion; extending a planar, generally triangular cutting blade transversely from a distal side port of the subintimal reentry guidewire to extend beyond an outer surface of the subintimal reentry guidewire; rotating the subintimal reentry guidewire with the cutting blade exposed to create a transverse cut in an intimal layer of the vessel wall on the far side of the occlusion; retracting the cutting blade proximally into the distal side port of the subintinial reentry guidewire; Advancing substantially an entire balloon over the subintimal reentry guidewire to the far side of the occlusion and adjacent the transverse cut in the intimal layer of the vessel wall; and inflating the balloon to enlarge the transverse cut in the intimal layer of the vessel wall thereby creating a passageway through the intimal layer.