| abstract |
A flexible, preferably coiled wire for use in small-vessel vaso-occlusion. The wire has a stretched, linear condition in which it can be advanced through a catheter lumen to a selected vessel, and a relaxed, convoluted condition produced by a combination of a helical winding of the wire, and irregularities of the helical winding. When the wire is released from a catheter into a vessel, it assumes a randomly coiled, substantially space-filling mass which is lodged at the site of release. In a preferred embodiment, the helical winding in the wire's relaxed condition has about the same diameter as that of the vessel, and the wire, in its stretched condition, has a length of about 15-20 times the vessel diameter. |