A detector-equipped treatment tool including: a distal-end treatment portion that applies a force to and treats biological tissue; a proximal-end portion that supports the distal-end treatment portion so as to be relatively movable; a detector that is disposed in a cavity provided inside of the distal-end treatment portion and detects the force; wiring that is connected to the detector; and a duct that is connected to the distal-end treatment portion and guides the wiring led out of the distal-end treatment portion from the detector in the cavity to the proximal-end portion.

Three groups of guidewire embodiments are described with particularly suitable structures for navigating circuitous vessels, especially blood vessels of the brain. Some of the guidewires have a hyperbolic taper that provides desired flexibility. In some embodiments, an integrated guide structure provides for extension in the blood vessel of a corewire to provide for extended reach of the guidewire. In further embodiments, the guidewire has a flexible tip that can be guided directly by the flow in the vessel.

Three groups of guidewire embodiments are described with particularly suitable structures for navigating circuitous vessels, especially blood vessels of the brain. Some of the guidewires have a hyperbolic taper that provides desired flexibility. In some embodiments, an integrated guide structure provides for extension in the blood vessel of a corewire to provide for extended reach of the guidewire. In further embodiments, the guidewire has a flexible tip that can be guided directly by the flow in the vessel.

A steerable-catheter handle includes an outer housing with a multilumen catheter body extending generally distally therefrom. An internal track, including at least one track-defining lateral edge element, is disposed between distal and proximal terminal ends of the outer housing, which also houses a manifold engaged with the catheter body, a working-channel port member in fluid and mechanical communication with at least a first catheter lumen, a vacuum channel port member in fluid communication with at least one catheter lumen via one or both of the working channel port member and the manifold, and a generally proximal catheter port open to the internal track, where a distal endmost portion of the catheter mechanically communicates with one or more control surfaces so that the distal endmost portion of the catheter is deflectable along at least two intersecting axes, and where a portion of the catheter body extends removably through the internal track.

A wire guide includes a solid core mandrel that is initially received in a flat wire coil that has a rest inner diameter that is greater than a uniform diameter of the solid core mandrel. The flat wire of the flat wire coil is in tension between a proximal location and a distal location so that the flat wire coil has a reduced inner diameter that is smaller than its rest inner diameter. The tension in the flat wire is introduced by torquing the mandrel relative to the flat wire coil as part of attaching the coil to the mandrel.

A spool and gear mechanism for tensioning and manipulating the steering/deflection control wires of a steerable catheter device provides for a desired level of tension that will allow operation of the device without too little or too much tension in those wires. In a wire-tensioning mechanism for a steerable catheter, the mechanism includes at least a first and second steering/deflection control wire each attached to the spool by winding around its own detent-engaged rotatable gear in the spool and extending out through a radial wall of the spool to engage into a steerable catheter body. In a multi-spool system, the wire-tensioning/winding gears of each spool preferably are accessible for adjustment via apertures of an adjacent spool.

An apparatus and method of manufacture includes a helical wire coil body having a proximal body end portion and a distal body end portion that extend along a longitudinal coil axis. The apparatus also includes a non-extensible, core wire assembly configured to inhibit longitudinal elongation of the helical wire coil body along the longitudinal coil axis. The core wire assembly has a first core wire and a second core wire respectively extending from the proximal body end portion toward the distal body end portion. The second core wire proximally terminates relative to the first core wire such that the distal body end portion is more flexible than the proximal body end portion. The first and second core wires transversely overlap to provide a collective column strength to the helical wire coil body along the longitudinal coil axis.

A tube for an intravascular medical device has a longitudinal extension along a longitudinal axis. The tube comprises a tube wall having a specified thickness and a plurality of through-going slots, wherein each slot has an essentially elongated shape along a main extension extending along the circumference of the tube. At least two slots are provided in a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis such that the main extension of the at least two slots are in the perpendicular plane. The lengths of the slots in the same perpendicular plane P are essentially the same, and the lengths L of the slots in different planes vary along the longitudinal extension of the tube according to a predefined pattern. A sensor guide wire for an intravascular measurement of at least one variable in a living body may comprise such a tube.

Guidewires useful for cooperating with catheters may be actively steered and/or provide adjustable stiffness. Angle or curvature of a guidewire, and/or flexural modulus of a guidewire, may be adjusted at one or more locations between ends thereof. Variable stiffness segments may include electrically operated compressible and/or extensible materials. Multiple tensile elements may terminate at different body elements to adjust angle or curvature at multiple locations. Multiple circumferentially and/or radially contractible fiber regions may be provided and distributed over a length of a guidewire. Adjustable flexure elements arranged in or along a guidewire may be electrically operated. A flexible core member may be centrally arranged in a tubular body. A flexible guide wire or track may cooperate with electrically operable motor units.

A steerable guidewire. The steerable guidewire is fabricated includes an outer tube, an inner tube, a hub, and a distal articulating region. The steerable guidewire hub can be removed to permit advancement of catheters over its proximal end followed by re-attachment of the hub to permit deflection of the distal end of the steerable guidewire.