| abstract |
A filtering device for capturing and removing embolic debris from a body vessel and a system for insertion and removal of the filtering device to facilitate an interventional procedure in a stenosed or occluded region of a body vessel. The filtering device is adapted to be expandable in the body vessel, allowing blood to pass therethrough while maintaining apposition with the body vessel wall and capturing embolic material released into the bloodstream during the interventional procedure, and to be collapsible to remove the captured embolic material from the body vessel. The filtering device includes a guidewire, an expandable cage assembly secured to the guide wire, filter material secured to the expandable cage assembly, and at least one hinge, the hinge allowing the expandable cage assembly to bend independent from the guide wire. The system, which includes a delivery sheath and filtering device, is adapted to retain the expandable cage assembly in a collapsed condition and deliver and deploy the filtering device at a location in the body vessel distal the treatment site. |