Patent ID: 8114031

Claim:
A method of antegrade insertion of a guidewire via a common femoral artery into a superficial femoral artery of a human patient, the superficial femoral artery branching off from the common femoral artery anteriorly of a deep femoral artery, comprising: piercing a needle into the common femoral artery with a tip of the needle pointing obliquely in antegrade direction relative to the common femoral artery, the needle bounding a lumen oriented in an axial direction of the needle; providing a guidewire having a tip structure at its distal end and a curved deflection section located proximal of the tip structure at a distance of less than 5 mm from a proximal end of the tip structure, wherein the tip structure is selected from the group consisting of: a rounded tip having, when in an unloaded condition outside the needle, a radius larger than the guidewire circumference radius, and a floppy tip section having more flexibility than a proximally adjacent section of the guidewire, wherein the curved deflection section has, when in the unloaded condition, a radius of curvature of at least 5 mm and at most 30 mm and extending over an angle of curvature of at least 90° such that the tip is spaced from a continuation of an axis of a section of the guidewire proximally neighboring the curved deflection section, and wherein the curved deflection section has a flexibility causing the curved deflection section to spring back to substantially its original curved shape when released from the distal end of the needle or another bounding lumen after elastic deformation to a straightened condition, inserting a distal end portion of the guidewire into the lumen of the needle and urging the guidewire through the needle such that the distal end portion emerges in an axial direction of the needle from a distal end of the lumen of the needle into the common femoral artery, the guidewire being in a predetermined rotational orientation about a center line of the guidewire such that the curved deflection section springs back from the straightened condition inside the needle, as the guidewire distal end emerges from the needle, in an anterior direction towards its original curved shape, and advancing the guidewire wherein the tip of the guidewire deflects towards the anterior wall of the common femoral artery, contacts the anterior wall of the common femoral artery, contacts the anterior wall of the superficial femoral artery and enters the superficial femoral artery.