Flexible medical article and method of making the same
AssigneeAccess Scientific, Inc.
InventorSteven F. Bierman
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of making a flexible medical article or tube, for example, a sheath for a vascular access device, is provided. The method can include extruding a polymer, for example, a polycarbonate-urethane copolymer, to form a tube and annealing the extruded polymer. The method can further include cutting the extruded tube to a desired length before or after annealing, flaring one end of the annealed tube and over-molding the flared portion onto a hub, and forming the other end of the tube into a tip. A sheath formed by such a method is also provided.
Claims20
A method for forming a flexible medical article, the method comprising the following steps:
- forming a tubular member of a medical article by extruding a polycarbonate urethane copolymer;
- annealing said extruded tubular member of the medical article to increase a flexibility of said tubular member of the medical article;
- and
- coupling a hub to a first end of the annealed tubular member of the medical article.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.