Patent ID: 8628551

Claim:
A method for generating a rotating diameter within a lumen with an abrasive section of a flexible drive shaft wherein the rotating diameter is larger than the resting diameter of the abrasive section, comprising: providing a guide wire having a maximum diameter less than the diameter of the artery; providing a flexible elongated, rotatable drive shaft advanceable over the guide wire and comprising a rotational axis, and a curvilinear pre-curved section comprising an abrasive section having an eccentric abrasive crown fixedly attached thereon, the eccentric abrasive crown having a center of mass radially offset from the rotational axis of the drive shaft; providing an elongated catheter having a lumen through with at least part of the drive shaft is disposed; advancing the pre-curved section over the guide wire to deform and substantially straighten the pre-curved section; advancing the guide wire and drive shaft into a lumen of a patient's blood vessel to a position proximal to a stenosis to be cleared; retracting the guide wire proximally; allowing the pre-curved section to move back into its undeformed and curvilinear profile form; rotating the drive shaft at a high rotational speed within the range of 20,000 rpm and 200,000 rpm wherein the pre-curved section and abrasive section, including the eccentric abrasive crown attached thereto, sweeps a rotational diameter that is larger than the resting diameter of the abrasive section; abrading the stenosis; reinserting the guide wire through the drive shaft lumen to deform and substantially straighten the pre-curved section in preparation for withdrawal from the lumen of the patient's blood vessel; and withdrawing the guide wire and substantially straightened drive shaft from the lumen.