Patent ID: 8348925

Claim:
A method to decrease the need for a patient to require a blood transfusion after an introducer sheath has been used to access that patient's vascular system, the method including the following steps: 1 ) obtaining an introducer sheath that has a tubular shaft with an inner lumen sized such that at least one catheter can be inserted therethrough, the tubular shaft comprising an inner plastic layer, a wire layer, and an outer plastic layer, wherein the wire layer is formed from at least two thin-walled, flat wire, helical coils formed from at least two different metal alloys, the at least two thin-walled flat wire helical coils being wound parallel to each other to form a single layer of metal coils for minimizing the wall thickness of the introducer sheath, wherein all the wires in the wire layer are non-overlapping, wherein the tubular shaft comprises a distal portion and a proximal portion, the outer plastic layer of the distal portion having a lubricious coating and the outer plastic layer of the proximal portion being free of a lubricious coating; 2 ) placing the thin-walled introducer sheath through the patient's skin and into the patient's vascular system such that part of the proximal portion of the tubular shaft that is free of a lubricious coating is disposed at the vascular entry site in the patient's skin; and 3 ) introducing a catheter through the introducer sheath.