Importance

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Abstract

An apparatus for introducing an atherectomy cutter into a coronary artery for removing a stenosis from the artery, includes a guide wire having a predetermined anatomically shaped configuration. The guide wire may correspond in shape to an arterial path through the aorta and into an artery of the heart such as a right coronary artery (RCA), a left anterior descending artery (LAD), a left circumflex artery (LCX), or a bypass graft. A percutaneously inserted guiding catheter is used to direct the anatomically shaped guide wire into a selected coronary artery and to subsequently retrieve the guide wire from the artery. With the guide wire in place in the artery, and the guiding catheter removed from its engagement with the guide wire, the atherectomy cutter is slidingly engaged to the guide wire and is advanced along the wire into contact with the stenosis.

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First Claim