Patent ID: 8454537

Claim:
A multi-segment intravascular guide wire, comprising: a discrete, proximal, high modulus core portion with proximal and distal ends made of a first material selected from the list consisting of stainless steel, tungsten, or tungsten-rhenium alloy and having a first outer diameter; a discrete, intermediate, medium modulus core portion with proximal and distal ends, wherein the proximal end is joined to the distal end of the proximal core portion, made of a second material of superelastic nitinol, the intermediate core portion having a second outer diameter; a discrete, shapeable, low modulus distal core portion made of a third material selected from the list consisting of cold worked stainless steel, cold worked linear elastic nitinol, or beta titanium, having a flattened, shapeable section at a most distal end that is not welded to but is made from the same third material as the shapeable distal portion, and wherein the flattened, shapeable section can be permanently deformed by finger pressure to create a tip that can be steered through a patient's vasculature, the low modulus core portion having a proximal portion having a third outer diameter; and a plurality of weld zones joining the discrete core portions together, the weld zones having outer diameters equivalent to the first, second and third outer diameters of the respective core portions.