Articles having non-fouling surfaces and processes for preparing the same without altering bulk physical properties

A process for preparing a vascularly inserted catheter having a low-fouling surface on a substrate, the substrate having a surface comprising a polyurethane material, the process comprising

• (a) treating the substrate surface to improve surface characteristics without significantly altering the bulk physical properties of the article, said treatment comprising contacting the substrate surface with a solvent system to swell the substrate and remove wax or oil from the substrate surface, and
• (b) forming a grafted polymer layer on the treated substrate surface, the treated surface and the grafted polymer layer, in combination, constituting a low-fouling surface having a fibrinogen adsorption of less than about 125 ng/cm2 in a fibrinogen binding assay in which the low-fouling 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 I-125 radiolabeled fibrinogen.