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US 10,478,150 B2Granted
Medico—surgical devices
AssigneeThe Cooper Companies Global Holdings LP
InventorStephen James Field
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An embryo replacement catheter has a flexible extruded shaft of a transparent polyurethane with a bore extending along its length. Gas bubbles of a diameter in the range 5μ to 10μ are incorporated into the thickness of the wall of the shaft by adding gas during extrusion. The bubbles are selected to increase the visibility of the catheter under ultrasound imaging whilst still enabling material flowing along the catheter to be seen.
Claims17
An embryo replacement catheter comprising:
- a hub;
- and
- a shaft attached to the hub, the shaft having a bore extending therethrough, the shaft comprising a wall of a transparent plastic material with gas bubbles incorporated therein,
- wherein the gas bubbles extend through a major part of a thickness of the wall of the shaft, and the gas bubbles have a density and size to enable visibility of the catheter under ultrasound imaging and to enable an embryo within the bore of the shaft to be viewed by a naked eye of a user.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.