ASAHI Extension®: The 165 cm Guidewire Extension for Device Exchange Without Losing Distal Wire Position
By Modern Medical Solutions Editorial Team
The ASAHI Extension docks onto any in-situ ASAHI PTCA guide wire, converting a standard 180 cm wire into an approximately 345 cm exchange-length system — preserving hard-won distal wire position through every over-the-wire device exchange.
Why Exchange Length Matters in PCI
Exchanging an over-the-wire device — a microcatheter, an over-the-wire balloon — requires enough external wire to hold distal position while the full device length is withdrawn over it. A standard 180 cm guide wire leaves too little wire outside the patient: withdrawing a 135–150 cm device would drag the wire back with it, sacrificing distal position.
The classical solutions are placing a 300 cm exchange wire from the start, trapping techniques, or a guidewire extension. The extension is the only option that converts the wire already in place — after the strategy has evolved mid-case — without re-crossing the lesion.
How the ASAHI Extension Works
The ASAHI Extension® is a 165 cm extension that docks securely onto the proximal end of an in-situ ASAHI PTCA guide wire. The combined system — approximately 345 cm with a standard 180 cm wire — provides full exchange length: the operator withdraws or advances any over-the-wire device while maintaining continuous control of distal wire position.
Compatibility spans all ASAHI 0.014 in PTCA guide wires, so a single extension supports the complete coronary wire inventory from frontline SION wires to CTO penetration wires.
CTO PCI: The Primary Beneficiary
Nowhere is the extension more valuable than in CTO intervention, where wire position is won through minutes of careful crossing work and must survive multiple microcatheter and device exchanges. When a crossing wire ends up across the occlusion but the case demands an exchange — upgrading microcatheter support, swapping to a workhorse wire for stenting — the extension converts the crossing wire to exchange length in seconds.
This removes the temptation to accept marginal solutions: no re-crossing, no risky trapping in small guides, no abandoning distal position.
Ordering Through Modern Medical Solutions
Modern Medical Solutions is the authorised Asahi Intecc distributor for Tajikistan and Afghanistan. the ASAHI Extension is available on request for coronary intervention centres in Tajikistan and Afghanistan.
Contact Modern Medical Solutions to confirm availability, discuss your caseload, and review the complete Asahi Intecc coronary portfolio for your catheter lab.
