Patent ID: 8157766

Claim:
A guidewire comprising: (a) a shaft extending from a proximal end thereof to a distal tip thereof; (b) a crimpable inflation tube interconnected in series with the proximal end of the shaft and defining a tube lumen section therethrough, the crimpable inflation tube having a proximal portion of sufficient length to enable the tube lumen section to be repeatedly sealed airtight by crimping said proximal portion separately at each of a plurality of successive locations therealong and to be repeatedly reopened thereafter by severing said proximal portion just distal to each such location where so crimped to reopen the tube lumen section; (c) a polymer jacket formed around a predetermined length of the shaft and at least a distal portion of the crimpable inflation tube; the polymer jacket defining within itself an inflation lumen section in communication with the tube lumen section of the crimpable inflation tube; and (d) a balloon secured about the polymer jacket proximal to the distal tip of the shaft, the balloon having proximal and distal shoulders fixed to and sealed against the polymer jacket on opposite sides of an inflation port defined in the polymer jacket, with the inflation lumen section and the inflation port of the polymer jacket and the tube lumen section of the crimpable inflation tube forming an inflation lumen of the guidewire through which the balloon is capable of being inflated and deflated from a proximal end of the crimpable inflation tube.