Guidewire
Guide Wire · Glide Wire · J-Wire · Exchange Wire · Stiff Wire
A long, thin, flexible wire made of stainless steel or nitinol, often with a slippery coating. It comes coiled inside a plastic dispenser hoop, and the tip may be straight, J-curved, floppy or stiff.
On the table
What it does, the lengths it comes in and what experienced techs know about it.
What it’s for
Placed into a vessel (or the ureterYOOR-uh-terOne of the two tubes that carry urine from the kidneys down to the bladder.Full entry ) through a needle or catheter, it acts as a pilot that sheathSHEETHA covering that wraps around a structure; in procedures, a short hollow tube left in a blood vessel to pass catheters through.Full entry , catheters, stentstentA small tube, often of metal mesh, placed inside a vessel or duct to hold it open.Full entry and other devices slide over. It holds access in the vessel while devices are exchanged. Pulled for endovascular, vascular access, device implant (ICD, pacemakerPAYS-may-kerA small device that sends electrical pulses to the heart to keep it beating at a set rate; also the heart's own natural rhythm center.Full entry ) and ureteral cases.
Lengths and variants
Common diameters are 0.014, 0.018 and 0.035 inch, and catheter lumenLOO-menThe open space inside a tube, such as a blood vessel, the intestine or a catheter.Full entry match these sizes. Lengths run from about 50 to 260 cm; long exchange-length wires are used for larger aortic repairs. Variants include J-tip, straight, floppy-tip, stiff (for example Amplatz Super Stiff or Lunderquist) and hydrophilic glide wires.
What experienced techs know
What techs who reach for it every day know about it.Pro
Through the case
In the order you meet it: before, during and after the case.
- Before the case
Inspection and testing
What to check before it reaches the field.Pro
- During the case
Caution
What not to do with it, and why.Pro
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3 sources
- Fuller. Surgical Technology: Principles and Practice. 8th ed. Chapter 30 (Vascular and Microvascular Surgery), p. 841-842
- Fuller. Surgical Technology: Principles and Practice. 8th ed. Chapter 24 (Genitourinary Surgery), p. 596
- Rothrock. Alexander's Care of the Patient in Surgery. 17th ed. Chapter 7 (Sutures, Sharps, and Instruments), p. 197
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