Method of thermal treatment of a thermally responsive material of medical devices
AssigneeAbbott Laboratories Vascular Enterprises Limited
InventorsLouise Corcoran, Lorcan Coffey, Andrew Jeffrey, Hartmut Gratwohl, Günter Lorenz
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Abstract
The present invention relates to a method of thermal treatment of thermally responsive material wherein areas in or on the material to be thermally treated are defined and thermal energy is inputted on or into the defined areas in order to change/influence the material characteristics. The present invention further relates to medical devices or parts thereof manufactured at least in part from thermally responsive material by a process comprising at least one step of thermal treatment of this thermally responsive material.
Claims21
A catheter comprising a catheter tube having a distal tip with a reinforcement pattern disposed therein, the reinforcement pattern comprising at least one annealed longitudinal pattern along a length of the catheter tube and at least one annealed circumferential ring disposed about the catheter tube, the catheter tube comprising a polymer doped with a doping agent, the doping agent being selected from a crosslinking agent, a nucleating agent or a clarifying agent, wherein the doping agent is distributed uniformly through at least a portion of the polymer such that the doping agent is uniformly distributed through a thickness of the catheter tube, wherein the at least one annealed circumferential ring intersects the at least one annealed longitudinal pattern.
A catheter comprising:
- an inner tube having an annealed area of higher stiffness than the distal portion of the inner tube, the annealed area of higher stiffness comprising at least one annealed longitudinal pattern along a length of the catheter tube and at least one annealed circumferential ring disposed about the catheter tube and the inner tube comprising a polymer doped with a doping agent, the doping agent being selected from a crosslinking agent, a nucleating agent or a clarifying agent, wherein the doping agent is distributed uniformly through at least a portion of the polymer such that the doping agent is uniformly distributed through a thickness of the inner tube;
- an outer tube receiving the inner tube;
- and
- a balloon having a proximal balloon sleeve and a distal balloon sleeve, the proximal balloon sleeve being coupled to the outer tube and the distal balloon sleeve being coupled to the inner tube.
A catheter comprising:
- an inner tube;
- an outer tube;
- a balloon coupled to the inner tube and the outer tube, the balloon comprising at least one annealed reinforced line extending over at least a portion of a length of the balloon and at least one annealed circumferential ring disposed about the catheter tube, the at least one annealed circumferential ring intersecting the at least one annealed reinforced line, the annealed reinforced line comprising a polymer doped with a doping agent, the doping agent being selected from a crosslinking agent, a nucleating agent or a clarifying agent, wherein the doping agent is distributed uniformly through at least a portion of the polymer such that the doping agent is uniformly distributed through a thickness of the balloon.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.