Abstract: A guide for assisting in the cannulation of a patient comprising a flexible, tubular body having a hollow interior, a proximate end, and a distal end. The proximate end has an opening in communication with the hollow interior of the tubular body, and the distal end has a rounded, reinforced tip with a passageway therethrough which is in communication with the hollow interior. The guide is inserted and advanced to a position desired by the surgeon within a vein or artery, and then a cannula is threaded over the guide and advanced to the desired position before the guide is removed from the patient. The guide may be used in conjunction with a guide wire and/or a dilator.

Abstract: A cervical sampling apparatus includes a curved, hollow tube having an outside diameter of 5/8 inches, a working length of 31/2 inches, and a radius of curvature of 91/2 inches. A paddle-shaped sampling member is normally housed within one end of the tube, and a flexible shaft extends from the sampling member through the opposite end of the tube for selectively extending the sampling member to a sampling position outside the tube, for rotating the sampling member in the sampling position and for retracting the sampling member into the tube. Preferably, the sampling member is transparent and is separable from the shaft, so that a specimen taken on the sampling can be analyzed without removal therefrom.