A tool for inserting a catheter into a body of a patient is provided. The tool comprises: a housing in which at least a portion of the catheter is initially disposed; a needle distally extending from the housing, at least a portion of the catheter disposed over the needle; a guidewire initially disposed within the needle partially; and an advancement assembly for distally advancing the catheter. The housing comprises: a first portion comprising a distal part and a proximal part; and a second portion engaged with the first portion, wherein the distal part of the first portion is configured to be able to distally slide with respect to the second portion to release the engagement between the first portion and the second portion. The advancement assembly includes a safety cap which is initially disposed over the needle and is configured to be locked to the housing when distally sliding to a position of isolating the tip of the needle within the safety cap.

An elongate steerable medical device includes a shaft and a handle assembly that is removably securable to the shaft. The shaft includes an elongate outer member and an elongate inner member that is disposed within the elongate outer member. The handle assembly includes a proximal handle, a spool that is slidingly secured to the handle body and a collet that is removably secured to the handle body. The spool is adapted to releasable secure the elongate inner member and the collet is adapted to releasably secure the elongate outer member.

A device for one-handed insertion of a guidewire into a vessel or cavity is provided. The device has a body, an actuator carriage, a guidewire feed, and a syringe. The body has a handle, a guideway, and a clip to retain the syringe. The syringe has a barrel and a plunger with a flange and a guidewire passage. The actuator carriage has a trigger and a clip to grasp the syringe plunger flange. The actuator carriage slides along the body guideway. The guidewire feed has a wire feed surface. The thumb engages wire at the wire feed surface to advance and retract the wire through the guidewire passage and a finger moves the trigger to move the syringe plunger rearwardly and/or forwardly, while the remaining fingers of the one hand grasp the handle. The device allows the user to sense resistance encountered by the tip of the wire.

An aspiration system exhibits an accelerated drop in negative pressure at the distal end of an aspiration catheter from the time of opening a valve. The system includes an aspiration pump in communication with a first chamber, and an aspiration catheter configured for placement into fluid communication with the first chamber by way of an elongate aspiration tube. A second chamber is provided between the aspiration tube and the catheter, and a valve is provided between the second chamber and the aspiration catheter. Upon opening of the valve with negative pressure at equilibrium in the first and second chambers, resistance to fluid flow between the second chamber and the distal end of the catheter is less than the resistance to fluid flow between the second chamber and the first chamber, causing a rapid aspiration into the second chamber.

A guidewire torquer is described for manually controlling a guidewire, and imparting motion to a guidewire. The guidewire torquer comprises a handling body for handling of the guidewire torque. The guidewire torquer further comprises an insertion channel for receiving the guidewire. The insertion channel is arranged at a surface of the handling body, and the handling body comprises a shaping feature. The shaping feature provides tactile feedback as to the orientation of the guidewire, and the insertion channel provides a frictional fixation of the guidewire relative to the handling body.

A clip for holding a flexible elongated medical device. In embodiments, the clip has a hinge; first and second jaws movable with respect to each other about the hinge from a closed position to an open position, each of the jaws having a contact surface, the contact surface of the first jaw being disposed against the contact surface of the second jaw when the clip is in the closed position and away from the contact surface of the second jaw when the clip is in the open position; and flexible material disposed on at least one of the jaws, the flexible material comprising the contact surface. The invention also includes methods of holding a flexible elongated medical device.

A device that includes a body having an opening through which a wire is configured to extend; a channel defined by an upper wire guiding portion and a lower wire guiding portion; and a wire locking feature configured to immobilize a section of the wire. The channel is configured to guide the wire along a path between the body and the wire locking feature.

Torque devices for use with intravascular devices and associated systems and methods are disclosed. In some embodiments, a torque device for use with an intravascular device includes a first component having a body defining a tapered opening for receiving a proximal portion of the intravascular device, a first arm extending from the body, and a second arm extending from the body; and a second component movably coupled to the first component, wherein the second component is movable relative to the first component between an open position where the torque device is configured to slidably receive the proximal portion of the flexible elongate member between the first and second arms of the first component and a closed position where the torque device fixedly engages the proximal portion of the flexible elongate member between first and second arms of the first component.

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.

The present disclosure provides a catheter grip device that secures to a catheter shaft and provides easier manipulation of the catheter shaft for the user. For example, the catheter shaft, such as for an Electrophysiology catheter, may insert into a patient's blood vessel. From here, the user, such as the physician, may need to manipulate, re-position, rotate, or otherwise maneuver a distal end of the catheter shaft while inserted inside the patient's blood vessel. In this regard, by the catheter grip being securely attached to the catheter shaft, the user is able to manipulate, rotate, etc. the catheter shaft by rotating and manipulating the catheter grip. The catheter grip reduces strain on the various muscles of the user's hand, and also provides more accurate manipulation of the catheter shaft.