Patent ID: 7566338

Claim:
A method of protecting a patient from embolization during a percutaneous procedure on a vessel, comprising: providing a guidewire having proximal and distal ends, a proximal and a distal region, an expandable filter associated with the distal region, and a removable sheath which covers the expandable filter and is slidable over the guidewire; introducing the distal end of the guidewire into the patient's vessel with the sheath covering the expandable filter, and positioning the filter downstream of a treatment site, wherein the sheath and guidewire cross the treatment site; expanding the expandable filter in the vessel; removing the sheath from the vessel; advancing a treatment catheter over the guidewire to position the treatment catheter at the treatment site, the treatment catheter having a distal portion carrying an expandable treatment device, the treatment device being expandable from an unexpanded configuration where an outer wall of the treatment device has a first diameter to an expanded configuration where the outer wall has a second diameter, the second diameter being greater than the first diameter; and expanding the vessel at the treatment site by expanding the treatment device from the unexpanded configuration to the expanded configuration, wherein embolic material is generated and captured before the expandable filter is removed from the patient's vessel.