Patent ID: 7556636

Claim:
A method for filtering emboli from blood flowing through a body vessel comprising: providing a guidewire having distal and proximal ends and carrying a filter non-removable from the guidewire on a distal portion of the guidewire, the filter being expandable from a collapsed delivery configuration to an expanded deployed configuration; providing an introduction catheter having distal and proximal ends and a lumen sized to receive the guidewire; providing a retrieval catheter having distal and proximal ends and a lumen sized to receive the guidewire; introducing the introduction catheter into the vessel; advancing the guidewire through the vessel while the filter is contained within the lumen of the introduction catheter in its collapsed delivery configuration; expanding the filter to its expanded deployed configuration at a location within the vessel distal to the treatment site; removing the introduction catheter from the vessel; filtering emboli from blood with the filter; after the introduction catheter has been removed introducing the distal end of the retrieval catheter into the vessel; advancing the retrieval catheter over the guidewire to retrieve the filter; and removing the retrieval catheter, guidewire and filter from the vessel.