this invention is a vaso - occlusive device comprising one or more vaso - occlusive helical coils which are formed by winding a wire into a first helix ; the first helix is then wound into a secondary form . the secondary form may be held or restrained within a tubular body such as a catheter or introducer into a shape which approximates the shape of the interior of that tubular body . the secondary form is one which , when ejected or pushed from the delivery catheter has a plurality of turns at least one substantially conical portion adjacent to a central cylindrical portion having a diameter approximating the larger end of the conical end . preferably the device has opposing conical ends separated by a cylindrical coil section . fig1 shows the most basic variation of ( 100 ) of the basic inventive device . in particular , vaso - occlusive device ( 100 ), has a generally cylindrical section ( 102 ) also known as the mid - section ( 102 ) made up of a number of turns ( 103 ) helically wound of a primary coil which in turn was helically wound from a wire . the end section ( 104 ) has a large end which continues on from the primary winding of central section ( 102 ) and creates a taper in section ( 104 ) and the taper becomes smaller and smaller as the axis of the coil proceeds . the coil may have a pitch ( 105 ) which is fairly loose , that is to say , that the distance between windings in the secondary shape are at least equal to the diameter of the primary coil making up those helical windings . this &# 34 ; looseness &# 34 ; prevents the coil from forming a fixed or pipe - like mass so readily after it has been placed within the human body . this looseness also creates a secondary shape having a fairly large mass in the vasculature which decreases the length of the coil placed within the catheter so to decrease the amount of friction encountered when deploying the coil . a tightly wound coil producing the same deployed coil volume may not be deployable because they simply refuse to be pushed through the catheter using normal pushing techniques . the loose wind discussed here is desirable but not required . the angle of the coil ( 106 ) may be virtually any value between 10 ° and approaching 90 °. indeed in some variations of the invention which may be considered to be variations having non - conic ends , the end section need only be a spirally wound disk . the material used in constructing a vaso - occlusive member may be any of a wide variety of materials ; preferably , the material chosen is a wire of a radio - opaque material such as a metal or polymer . suitable metals and alloys for the wire making up the device ( 100 ) include the platinum group metals , especially platinum , rhodium , palladium , rhenium , and other bio - compatible metals such as tungsten , gold , silver , tantalum , and alloys of these metals . these metals have significant radio - opacity and their alloys may be tailored to accomplish an appropriate blend of flexibility and stiffness . highly preferred for this service is a platinum / tungsten alloy . the wire may also be of any of a wide variety of stainless steels if some sacrifice of radio - opacity may be tolerated . very desirable materials of construction , from a mechanical point of view , are materials which maintain their shape despite being subjected to high stress . certain &# 34 ; super elastic alloys &# 34 ; include nickel / titanium alloys ( 48 - 58 atomic % nickel and optionally containing modest amounts of iron ); copper / zinc alloys ( 38 - 42 % zinc ); copper / zinc alloys containing 1 - 10 % by weight of beryllium , silicon , tin , aluminum , or gallium ; or nickel / aluminum alloys ( 36 - 38 atomic % aluminum ). particularly preferred are the alloys described in u . s . pat . nos . 3 , 174 , 851 ; 3 , 351 , 463 ; and 3 , 753 , 700 . especially preferred are the super elastic nickel titanium alloys , particularly known as &# 34 ; nitinol &# 34 ;. these nickel titanium alloys are very sturdy alloys which will tolerate significant flexing without plastic deformation even when used as a very small diameter wire . if a super elastic alloy such as nitinol is used in the device , the diameter of the coil wire may be significantly smaller than that used when the relatively more ductile platinum or platinum / tungsten alloy is used as the material of construction . the coils may be of radiolucent fibers or polymers ( or metallic threads or wires coated with radiolucent or radio - opaque polymers ) such as dacron ( polyethylene terephthalate or pet ), polyglycolic acid , polylactic acid , fluoropolymers such polytetrafluoroethylene , or nylon ( polyamide ), or even silk or cotton . should a polymer be used as a major component of the vaso - occlusive member , it is desirably filled with some amount of a known radio - opaque material such as powdered tantalum , powdered tungsten , bismuth oxide , barium sulfate , and the like . the coil material is first wound into a primary coil form . the primary coil is typically linear after it has been wound and heat treated . generally speaking , when the device ( 100 ) is formed of a metallic coil and that coil is a platinum alloy or a super elastic alloy such as nitinol , the diameter of the wire used in the production of the coil will be in the range of 0 . 0005 and 0 . 006 inches . the wire of such diameter is typically then wound into a primary coil having a primary diameter of between 0 . 005 and 0 . 025 inches . for most neurovascular indications , the preferable diameter is between 0 . 010 and 0 . 018 inches the axial length of the primary coil will usually fall in the range of 0 . 5 to 100 cm . more usually 2 . 4 to 40 cm . depending on usage , the primary coil may well have 10 to 75 turns per centimeter , preferably 10 to 40 turns per centimeter . all of the dimensions here are provided only as guidelines and are not critical to the invention . however , only dimensions suitable for use in occluding sites within the human body are included in the scope of this invention . the overall diameter of the device as deployed is generally between 3 and 25 millimeters with a range between 3 and 12 millimeters much more common . if this device is used within an aneurysm in the cranial vasculature , these shapes may be treated using devices having those diameters . of course , such diameters are not a critical aspect of the invention . fig2 shows another variation of the inventive device ( 200 ). in this variation , the center section ( 202 ) is two or more times the length of the axial length of the conical end sections ( 204 , 206 ). the variation ( 200 ) also obviously has two opposing ends or sections ( 204 , 206 ) which are helically wound and have an overall conical shape which is smallest at the opposing extremities of the device . we have found that in some instances , it is desirable to provide a short &# 34 ; tail &# 34 ; such as ( 208 ) on the end of the coil which last exits the delivery catheter . this tail ( 208 ) prevents the secondary coil turn from hanging in the catheter mouth since the last portion of the device seen by the catheter is straight . the wire in this instance is continuous throughout each of the sections of the device . fig3 shows another variation ( 300 ) of the inventive device . in this variation , the central section ( 302 ) is quite short in axial length and has but little more than one turn of the coil in the secondary shape within central section ( 302 ). terminal conical section ( 304 ) is , perhaps , three times the axial length of center section ( 302 ). the opposing end section ( 306 ) is also quite short in axial length . the angle of the cone in this variation is found in conical end ( 306 ) can approach 90 degrees . also contemplated in this invention is the attachment of various fibrous materials to the inventive device for the purpose of adding thrombogenicity to the resulting assembly . a wide variety of fibrous materials have been used in adding to the thrombogenicity of such coils . including in this group are such well known materials as dacron ( polyethylene terephthalate ), polyethylene , polypropylene , silk , nylon , and cotton . the fibrous materials may be added in a variety of ways , fig4 shows a cross section of the device shown in fig3 and it shows that the fibrous materials ( 308 ) found therein are looped around in such a way that they are continuous from end to end and generally may be tied to the end of the coil . another variation is had by tying the tuft or wrapping the tuft through the turns of the primary coil . tufts may be tied at multiple sites throughout the coil to provide a vast area of embolus forming sites . fig5 shows a close up of a primary coil ( 310 ) having a number of tufts ( 312 ) passing through the primary turns of the coil and merely being held in place by turns of the coil itself . the primary coil may be covered by a fibrous braid such as is shown in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 382 , 259 , issued jan . 17 , 1995 , to phelps and van . as was noted above , many vaso - occlusive coils are held in place before deployment in a variety of different ways so to provide a c ontrol on the site and time of their deployment . variations of the invention include the use of electrolytic detachment joints such as is shown in fig6 and mechanical detachment joints such as is shown in fig7 . specifically , the electrolytic joint shown in fig6 is described in significant detail in patent such as u . s . pat . nos . 5 , 122 , 136 and 5 , 354 , 295 , both to guglielmi discussed above . in these variations , an insulated pusher ( 402 ) is attached to the vaso - occlusive coil ( 404 ) via an electrolytically erodible joint ( 406 ). a direct current is applied to pusher ( 402 ). the current path is , in part , through joint ( 406 ) into the ionic medium surrounding the coil upon deployment . such ionic medium is , in the vasculature , blood or saline solution passing through the deploying catheter . joint ( 406 ) erodes and allows vaso - occlusive device ( 406 ) to remain in the body . vaso - occlusive device ( 406 ) may be any of the devices described above with respect to this invention . similarly , fig7 shows a mechanically detachable assembly ( 410 ) partially housed within a deployment catheter ( 412 ). the vaso - occlusive device itself ( 414 ) has an end clasp ( 416 ) which engages a similar end clasp ( 418 ) forming the end of pusher ( 420 ). when pusher ( 420 ) is forwarded distally so that both clasp ( 416 ) and clasp ( 418 ) are exterior to catheter ( 412 ), the vaso - occlusive device ( 415 ) with its attached clasp ( 416 ) is free to stay at the chosen site within the human body . again , vaso - occlusive portion ( 414 ) may be any of the devices described above in relation to this invention . in summary , the manner in which this device is employed or deployed may be found in a variety of other prior publications . in particular , the reader is directed to ritchart et al ., discussed above . modification of the above - described variations of carrying out the invention that would be apparent to those of skill in the fields of medical device design generally , and vaso - occlusive devices specifically , are tended to be within the scope of the following claims .
this is an implantable vaso - occlusive coil which is implanted using minimally invasive surgical techniques . it is a complex , helically wound coil made up of a primary helically wound coil which is then wound into a specific secondary shape . the secondary shape is itself a series of helical turns . at least a portion of the turns in the secondary shape form a cylindrical region and adjacent that region on at least one end is a conical region which tapers from a diameter approximating that of the central cylindrical region to a smaller diameter . the device is desirably self - forming upon exit from the distal end of a delivery catheter . also , the conical tipped vaso - occlusive device may also utilize thrombus - enhancing filamentary material .