Appeal No. 2002-1916
Application 09/332,772
guidewire and dilator (93) are removed so that catheters or
other medical devices can then be passed through the lumen of the
catheter member (20) into the desired vessel. Thus, the adapter
(93) need not be positioned within the lumen of catheter member
(20) at all times and the user clearly has the option of removing
it or not when appropriate. We are also of the view that a
further guidewire of a size on the order of the outside diameter
of adapter (93) or smaller would reasonably fall within the
bounds of “other medical devices” to be passed through the
catheter member (20) and into the blood vessel as mentioned
in Donadio (col. 3, lines 5-7).
Contrary to appellants’ arguments in their brief
(pages 8-9) and reply brief (page 3), we consider that Donadio
clearly discloses a catheter member (20) having a lumen which is
capable of accommodating a first guidewire having an external
diameter of a given size and also guidewires of different
diameters, wherein the guidewire diameters may fall within a
range slightly smaller than the outer diameter of adapter (93)
to just larger than the outer diameter of the guidewire (95).
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