A guidewire kit including a guidewire with a shaft having a curved steering section and including a straightener bounding a lumen for straightening at least the curved deflection section of the guidewire extending into the lumen for insertion of the tip and the curved deflection section of the guidewire into a needle inserted into a vessel of a patient. The straightener is of a length of at least 8 cm for obtaining an improved and more reliable steering effect of the curved steering section.

Medical devices and methods for making and using medical devices are disclosed. An example medical device may include a guidewire. The guidewire may include a core wire having a body region and a distal tip region. A distal tip member may be disposed along the distal tip region. The distal tip member may have a proximal end. A sleeve may be disposed along the body region. The sleeve may be disposed adjacent to the proximal end of the distal tip member and extending proximally therefrom. The sleeve may include a first member and a heat shrink member. The first member may have an uneven outer surface.

An intraluminal guide wire may include an elongated shaft extending between a distal and a proximal end. The guide wire may include a user actuation segment positioned proximal to the proximal end of the shaft and configured for movement relative to the shaft. The guide wire may include a core wire affixed to the user actuation segment and the distal end of the shaft. The guide wire may also include an inner member having a proximal end situated at least partially within and fixed relative to the user actuation segment and a distal end situated partially within the shaft, the core wire passing through the inner member. The guide wire may be configured with a distal segment of the inner member within the shaft exhibiting a friction-based restraint on movement within the shaft. The friction-based restraint on movement may be a frictional force between the inner member and the shaft.

A guide wire holder includes a sheath having a lumen, an operation wire inserted into the lumen and configured to be able to advance and retract in the lumen, and a hook continuous with a distal end of the operation wire, being formed to be bent in a convex shape toward a distal side, and protrudes from a distal end of the sheath. The sheath has a side surface extending from the distal end of the sheath to a proximal end side in a direction of the longitudinal axis. The hook intersects a ridge line of the side surface and forms a closed region closed by the hook and the ridge line in a front view. The guide wire holder is configured to hold the guide wire located outside the sheath in the closed region in a state that the hook is disposed at a retracted position at which the hook is retracted.

A medical device system may include a sheath, a pusher wire, and a locking element. The pusher wire may be slidably disposed within a lumen of the sheath. The locking element may have a proximal end, a distal end, an intermediate region disposed between the proximal end and the distal end, and a lumen extending from the proximal end to the distal end. The locking element may have a first inner diameter adjacent to the distal end and a second inner diameter adjacent to the proximal end, the second inner diameter smaller than the first outer diameter. The distal end region of the locking element may be configured to freely slide over the sheath and when a proximal end region of the locking element is disposed over the sheath, the locking element may be configured to depress the sheath radially inwards.

Smart torquers are provided. Aspects of the smart torquers include: an engager for releasably engaging an elongated intravascular device; a communications module; a contact associated with the engager and configured to communicatively contact an elongated intravascular device engaged by the engager with the communications module; and a manipulator configured to allow a user to torque an elongated intravascular device engaged by the engager. Aspects of the invention further include methods of using the smart torquers, as well as systems and kits employed in such methods.

Embodiments of the present disclosure can include a system for steering a guidewire comprising: a guidewire tip integrably connected to a guidewire, the guidewire tip comprising a hollow body having first joint and second joints comprising a plurality of asymmetric recesses in the hollow body; a plurality of tendons operably connected to the first and second joints; and a control unit operably connected to the tendons and configured to actuate the tendons to provide multiple degrees of freedom of movement to the guidewire tip.

A method for managing a guidewire in preparation for a surgical operation, comprising attaching a block of resilient polymer to a coiled tube which contains a guidewire; attaching to the block of resilient polymer a card having printed information concerning the guidewire on a planar surface of the card; removing the guidewire from the coiled tube; removing the block of resilient polymer from the coiled tube while keeping the card having printed information attached to the block of resilient polymer; coiling the guidewire into a flat spiral form; capturing, in a slot formed in the block of resilient polymer, a plurality of portions of the guidewire, which portions are adjacent to and parallel with each other, thereby maintaining the guidewire in the flat spiral form.

A multi-lumen extension system may include a first lumen forming a fluidic channel within the multi-lumen extension system; a second lumen forming a non-fluidic channel within the multi-lumen extension system; a patency instrument housed within the second lumen; a seal between the first lumen and the second lumen to prevent fluid from entering the second lumen from the first lumen; and a grip formed along the second lumen and operatively coupled to the patency instrument housed within the second lumen to selectively advance the patency instrument along the second lumen.

Medical devices including optical connector cable assemblies are disclosed. An optical connector cable assembly may include an optical connector cable having a first optical fiber extending therefrom. The optical connector cable may include a distal connector configured to connect to a guidewire. The distal connector may include an inner housing and a guidewire locking mechanism. The distal connector may also include an actuator. Actuation of the actuator may move the inner housing from a first position to a second position. When the inner housing is in the first position the guidewire locking mechanism is configured to secure the guidewire and the guidewire is rotatable with respect to the optical connector cable. When the inner housing is in the second position the guidewire locking mechanism is in an open state for receiving or removing the guidewire.