Patent ID: 8052714

Claim:
A medical device for deployment inside a vessel comprising a radiopaque filter element comprising a plurality of fibers having a delivery configuration with a low profile relative to a longitudinal axis having a first peak radiopacity and an extended configuration with the fibers forming a three dimensional filtration matrix having a large profile relative to the longitudinal axis having a second peak radiopacity, wherein the second peak radiopacity is visibly greater than the first peak radiopacity, wherein the fibers are polymer surface capillary fibers with at least one channel that extends substantially parallel to the length of the polymer surface capillary fiber and along at least a portion of the length of the polymer surface capillary fiber, and wherein the filter element further comprises an unwoven combination of polymer surface capillary fibers and one or more radiopaque metal wires or polymer surface capillary fibers with a radiopaque metal coating, or a composite polymer surface capillary fiber structure of polymer and radiopaque inorganic particles, said medical device further comprising an integrated guide structure comprising an overtube and a corewire extending within the overtube, wherein one end of the fibers in the bundle is operably connected to the corewire and a second end of the fibers is operably connected to the overtube, the relative movement of the overtube and corewire resulting in a transition of the filter element between the delivery configuration and the extended configuration.