Abstract: There is provided a connector for coupling to a guiding catheter including a housing defining a conduit communicating with the interior of the guiding catheter, the housing including first and second housing portions which are manually positionable in various relative mutual axial orientations, a selectably openable normally closed valve associated with the conduit for selectable sealing thereof, the selectably openable valve having an open state, a closed state and at least one partially open state realized by suitable relative mutual axial orientation of the first and second housing portions and permitting at least one elongate element to extend therethrough, even when the valve is, in the closed state, the selectably openable valve including a spring which urges the valve towards the closed state and an automatically engageable and manually disengageable valve state governing mechanism operative for automatically retaining the valve in, a state other than the closed state against the urging of the spring.