What am I looking at?
Visual recognition
Thin, kink-resistant catheter (0.014-0.035-inch compatible) with a tapered, often hydrophilic tip, tracked over the working wire.
05-04
Crossing support catheter
Low-profile support catheter
Three-panel learning framework
Recognition, context, and distinction
What does it do, and where will I see it?
Use & procedural context
Low-profile support catheter advanced over a guidewire to add pushability, protect the wire, and help cross tight, calcified, or chronically occluded segments. Typical procedural contexts include peripheral chronic total occlusions, tortuous or calcified lesions, and difficult wire crossings.
What most clearly distinguishes it from similar devices?
Key distinctions
A crossing support catheter adds pushability and wire support across difficult lesions while also permitting wire exchange or selective injection, unlike a microcatheter used primarily for distal embolic delivery.