Compliance characteristics of angiographic guidewires

Although the manufacturers' specifications may be identical, brands of widely employed straight, long-paper angiographic guidewires vary considerably in performance. Because guidewire flexibility is a key factor in performance, we investigated the characteristic compliance patterns of similar guidewires (using an apparatus of our own design) from four different manufacturers. The brands were found to differ significantly in compliance at the tip, in rate of change in compliance, and in overall length of taper.