Patent ID: 8142413

Claim:
A method of providing backup support for an interventional cardiology device for use in the coronary vasculature, the interventional cardiology device being adapted to be passed through a standard guide catheter, the standard guide catheter having a continuous lumen extending for a predefined length from a proximal end at a hemostatic valve to a distal end adapted to be placed in a branch artery, the continuous lumen of the guide catheter having a circular cross-sectional inner diameter sized such that interventional cardiology devices are insertable into and through the lumen, the method comprising: inserting the standard guide catheter into a first artery over a guidewire, the standard guide catheter having a distal end; positioning the distal end of the standard guide catheter in a branch artery that branches off from the first artery; inserting a flexible tip portion of a coaxial guide catheter defining a tubular structure having a circular cross-section and a length that is shorter than the predefined length of the continuous lumen of the standard guide catheter, into the continuous lumen of the standard guide catheter, and, further inserting a substantially rigid portion that is proximal of, operably connected to, and more rigid along a longitudinal axis than the flexible tip portion, into the continuous lumen of the standard guide catheter, the substantially rigid portion defining a rail structure without a lumen and having a maximal cross-sectional dimension at a proximal portion that is smaller than the cross-sectional outer diameter of the flexible tip portion and having a length that, when combined with the length of the flexible distal tip portion, defines a total length of the device along the longitudinal axis that is longer than the length of the continuous lumen of the guide catheter; advancing a distal portion of the flexible tip portion distally beyond the distal end of the standard guide catheter and into the second artery such that the distal portion extends into the second artery and such that at least a portion of the proximal portion of the substantially rigid portion extends proximally through the hemostatic valve; and inserting the interventional cardiology device into and through the continuous lumen of the standard guide catheter alongside of the substantially rigid portion and advancing the interventional cardiology device through and beyond a lumen of the flexible tip portion into contact with or past a lesion in the second artery.