Catheter having extendable guide wire lumen

摘要

A method and apparatus for introducing therapeutic and/or diagnostic devices through a balloon dilatation catheter and to an occlusion site, while longitudinally moving the dilatation balloon proximally from the occlusion area. This may enable, for example, an Intra-Vascular Ultra-Sonic (IVUS) device to produce non-distorted images of an occluded site between balloon dilatations of an angioplasty procedure.