What is a key feature of a movable core guidewire?

• A. Good for navigating tortuous vessels
• B. Maintains original shape
• C. Has hydrophobic coating
• D. Cannot navigate tortuous vessels

Answer: (A)

The essential idea is adjustable stiffness along the wire. A movable core guidewire has a core that can slide inside the outer jacket, allowing you to change the effective stiffness and tip profile during the procedure. This adaptability is especially helpful in tortuous vessels, where you want a very flexible distal portion to follow curves, but also enough proximal stiffness to push a device or support delivery when crossing lesions. By advancing or retracting the core, you can tailor the wire’s behavior on the fly, improving steerability through bends while maintaining enough support for device navigation. The other options aren’t defining features: it doesn’t simply maintain a single shape, coating type isn’t unique to this design, and it certainly isn’t limited to non-navigable tortuous vessels.