A new method for uncoiling knots in angiographic tubing.
Techniques for uncoiling knots formed in catheters during angiography have been the subject of several previous reports. A new technique for catheter unknotting is presented, based on the use of graded flexibility guidewires. The application of this graded taper method appears particularly pertinent to uncoiling softer, narrow-caliber, adversely looped catheters. Moreover, the mechanisms of knot uncoiling in the previous reports are reassessed and their imprecisions corrected.
D000792:Angiography / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000379:methods; D001013:Aorta, Thoracic / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D002404:Catheterization / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000295:instrumentation; D006801:Humans