term u201c proximal u201d refers to a portion of the wire guide closest to a physician when placing a wire guide in the patient and the term u201c distal u201d refers to a portion of the wire guide closest to the end inserted into the patient 39 s body referring now to fig1 this figure illustrates one embodiment of a wire guide 5 incorporating a mechanism allowing for the flexibility of the wire guide to be varied while it is in place within the body of a patient the wire guide 5 includes a core element 30 extending from a distal tip 50 to a proximal connector 60 outer coil 10 is disposed coaxially around core element 30 and is attached to distal tip 50 and proximal connector 60 inner coil 20 is disposed coaxially around core element 30 between core element 30 and outer coil 10 the distal end of inner coil 20 is attached to distal tip 50 shaft element 40 is disposed proximally of inner coil 20 between core element 30 and outer coil 10 the distal end of shaft element 40 is attached to the proximal end of inner coil 20 in one embodiment distal end of shaft element 40 is formed from a cannula shaft element 40 extends proximally from its point of attachment to inner coil 10 through proximal connector 60 and is movable axially relative to proximal connector 60 in one embodiment the proximal end of shaft element 40 connects to handle 70 in other.