Patent ID: 8152833

Claim:
A device for filtering emboli from blood flowing through a lumen defined by the walls of a vessel in a patient's body, comprising: a filter element being expandable from a collapsed configuration when the filter element is restrained to an expanded configuration when the filter element is unrestrained, wherein the filter element comprises a mesh comprising strands, each strand having a diameter, the mesh comprising at least one radiopaque strand and at least one non-radiopaque strand, the at least one radiopaque strand and the at least one non-radiopaque strand each having different diameters, and wherein each strand has an index of wire stiffness EI, where EI is the mathematical product of the Young's modulus (E) and the second moment of area (I), and wherein the EI of all strands in the mesh is no more than five times the EI of the strand having the smallest EI of any of the strands.