Thinwall guide catheter
AssigneeMedtronic, Inc.
InventorPeter A. Lunn
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An apparatus and method of making a thinwall guide catheter useful in delivery of therapeutic devices through a body vessel. The method comprises braiding a flat wire over the surface of a cylindrical core, placing a heat bondable polymer tube over the braid, surrounding the polymer tube with a heat shrink sleeve, heating the assembly to a temperature and for a time period sufficient to expand the core into braid interstices and bond the polymer tube to substantially only the outer surface of the braid and finally removing the heat shrink sleeve and core. The resulting guide catheter has approximately half the wall thickness of prior guide catheters and has excellent column stiffness and kink resistance.
Claims8
A method of making a thinwall guide catheter which comprises the steps of:
- providing a core having an exterior surface corresponding to a selected guide catheter interior configuration;
- braiding a flat stainless steel wire over said exterior surface of said core to form a substantially uniform braid tube having an inner surface engaging said core and an outer surface;
- those areas between adjacent wires define one or more braid interstices;
- said wire being braided with said width parallel to and engaging said core exterior surface;
- placing a heat bondable polymer tube over said braid tube outer surface;
- placing a heat shrink sleeve over said polymer tube;
- heating the resulting assembly to a temperature sufficient to shrink said heat shrink sleeve tightly around said polymer tube, to expand portions of said core into said braid interstices, and to bond said polymer tube to said braid tube outer surface;
- stripping away said heat shrink sleeve;
- and
- removing said core by grasping ends of said core extending beyond said braid tube, stretching said core to reduce core cross section, and pulling said core from said braid tube.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.