Lubricious extruded medical tubing
AssigneeContech Medical, Inc.
InventorsRaymond A. Byrnes, Christopher M. Byrnes, Frank E. Barrett
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A medical tube having improved lubricity is disclosed. The medical tube is produced by extruding a polymer material blended with a lubricity enhancing additive through a resilient die. The polymer material can be medical-grade high-density polyethylene, and the lubricity enhancing additive can be a silicone-based or alloy-based material. The medical tube can include one or more internal elongated protuberances so as to reduce the internal surface area of the medical tube available to generate friction on a guide wire inserted or withdrawn through the medical tube.
Claims16
A lubricious medical tube formed from a blended material, the lubricious medical tube comprising:
- organic polymer resin;
- and
- a lubricity enhancing additive including siloxane is blended with the organic polymer resin to form the blended material, the lubricity enhancing additive being blended with the organic polymer resin at a concentration of less than 10%,
- wherein the blended material is disposed in a substantially tubular configuration bounded by an inner surface and an outer surface encompassing the inner surface, and wherein the inner surface is formed with a plurality of elongated protuberances arranged to extend substantially parallel to a length dimension of the lubricious medical tube.
A dispenser assembly, comprising:
- a lubricious medical tube formed from a mixture of an organic polymer resin blended with a lubricity enhancing additive, the lubricity enhancing additive being blended with the organic polymer resin at a concentration of less than 10%, the lubricity enhancing additive being siloxane, the lubricious medical tube being configured such that the blended mixture is bounded between an inner surface and an external surface encompassing the inner surface, the inner surface being formed with a plurality of elongated protuberances arranged to extend substantially parallel to a length dimension of the lubricious medical tube;
- and
- a medical device housed within the lubricious medical tube.
A method of preparing a medical tube comprising:
- blending an organic polymer resin with a lubricity enhancing additive to create a blended material, the lubricity enhancing additive being blended with the organic polymer resin at a concentration of less than 10%, the lubricity enhancing additive being siloxane;
- controlling the temperature or pressure of the blended material so as to achieve a viscosity of the blended material suitable for being extruded;
- extruding the blended material through a resilient die to form a tubular structure suitable for use as a dispenser tube for a medical device housed therein, an inner surface of the tubular structure being formed with a plurality of elongated protuberances arranged to extend substantially parallel to a length dimension of the tubular structure;
- and
- allowing the extruded tubular structure to cool until it achieves a state suitable for further processing, the further processing including cutting the cooled extruded tubular structure into desired lengths.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.