Guidewire containment apparatus and method

摘要

A wire containing or dispensing article (10) and method are disclosed. The invention is used to dispense wire from a tubular wire carrier (10). The invention is particularly useful for containing/dispensing a guidewire, especially a coated guidewire (12). The article is an elongate dispensing sleeve or collar (20) having an axial hole or bore through which a wire may pass. The sleeve has a cylindrical sleeve body with lateral projections (40) on its outside and a plurality of transverse slits (34) passing through its wall. The lateral projections (40) and slits (34) cooperate to permit wire to be restrictively engaged at the bore and to be controllably dispensed from the carrier by the partial insertion and removal of the sleeve (20) into and out of the carrier (10). The method is controllable dispensing of the wire (12) from the carrier (10) by utilization of the article.