Luminal modifications for catheters

A catheter comprising as component parts thereof a catheter body and at least one connector, the catheter body having an exterior surface and at least one lumen having an aspect ratio of at least 250:1 and an intraluminal surface comprising a hydrophilic polymer layer thereon, the hydrophilic polymer layer having an Average Dry Thickness of at least about 50 nanometers.

A catheter comprising as component parts thereof a catheter body and at least one connector, the catheter body having an exterior surface and at least one lumen having an aspect ratio of at least 3:1 and an intraluminal surface comprising a hydrophilic polymer layer thereon, the hydrophilic polymer layer having an Average Dry Thickness wherein

• (i) the Average Dry Thickness is at least about 50 nanometers and the hydrophilic polymer comprises repeat units, at least 30% of which are derived from a hydrophilic monomer,
• (ii) the Average Dry Thickness is at least about 50 nanometers and the standard deviation of the Average Dry Thickness of the hydrophilic polymer layer does not exceed 100% of the Average Dry Thickness of the hydrophilic polymer layer, or
• (iiii) the Average Dry Thickness is at least about 50 nanometers and the hydrophilic polymer layer is conformal at a level of 1 mm2.

A catheter comprising as component parts thereof a catheter body and at least one connector, the catheter body having an exterior surface and at least one lumen having an aspect ratio of at least 3:1 and an intraluminal surface having a global average Rrms surface roughness and comprising a hydrophilic polymer layer thereon, wherein

• (i) the hydrophilic polymer layer has an Average Dry Thickness that exceeds the global average Rrms surface roughness of the intraluminal surface and is at least about 50 nm, or
• (ii) the hydrophilic polymer layer has a thickness of at least about 50 nm, the intraluminal surface and the hydrophilic polymer layer, in combination, constitute a modified surface having a global average Rrms surface roughness that is less than the global average Rrms surface roughness of the substrate surface.

A catheter comprising as component parts thereof a catheter body and at least one connector, the catheter body having an exterior surface and at least one lumen having an aspect ratio of at least 3:1 and an intraluminal surface comprising a hydrophilic polymer layer thereon having a thickness of at least about 50 nm, the intraluminal surface and the hydrophilic polymer layer, in combination, constituting a modified surface having a fibrinogen adsorption of less than about 125 ng/cm2 in a fibrinogen binding assay in which the modified surface is incubated for 60 minutes at 37° C. in a composition containing 70 μg/ml fibrinogen derived from human plasma and 1.4 μg/ml 1-125 radiolabeled fibrinogen.

A process for the preparation of a catheter comprising as component parts thereof a catheter body and at least one connector, the catheter body having an exterior surface and at least one lumen having an aspect ratio of at least 3:1 and an intraluminal surface, the process comprising

• forming a reaction mixture comprising a hydrophilic monomer, a free radical initiator and a solvent system,
• charging the reaction mixture into said catheter body lumen and polymerizing the monomer in the reaction mixture to graft a polymer from the intraluminal surface of said lumen, the reaction mixture having a viscosity of less than 30 cP during polymerization and
• continuously or intermittently replacing the reaction mixture charged into said catheter body lumen until the grafted polymer layer has an Average Dry Thickness that exceeds at least about 200 nanometers.