A curved-tip guide wire, which is a Seldinger type of guide wire in which the terminal portion of the flexible end is formed into a tight curve, is described. This wire has proved useful during angiographic procedures in negotiating atheromatous and tortuous iliac and subclavian arteries as well as in the aorta when the usual wires and catheters have encountered obstruction. A similar wire with a wider curved tip has aided in passage of a catheter into the descending thoracic aorta from the axillary or brachial approach in elderly patients. Both tight and wide curved-tip guide wires have aided in selective catheterization of the branches of the celiac axis. The tightly curved-tip guide wire can be utilized under the same conditions as a J-shaped catheter but has the great advantage that a catheter change is not required each time an obstruction is encountered.