Patent ID: 7862577

Claim:
A vascular filter guide wire for directing placement of a catheter with respect to a blood vessel lesion and filtering particulate matter dislodged by treatment of said vessel, said guide wire including: an elongated flexible core wire having a proximal end and a distal end, said elongated flexible core wire being insertable and steerable through a patient's vasculature to a position downstream of said lesion; a tubular flexible shaft slidably disposed along said core wire, said shaft including a proximal portion and a distal portion disposed proximally of said core wire distal end for placement downstream of said lesion; and a collapsible filter coupled at its proximal end to said distal portion of said shaft and at its distal end to said core wire, said filter operable in response to the relative displacement between said shaft and said core wire to radially extend outwardly within said vasculature and trap particulate matter arising from the treatment of said lesion, the filter including an inner braid layer and an outer braid layer, each layer extending from the filter proximal end to the filter distal end, the inner braid layer rotationally fixed relative to the outer braid layer.