Teleflex Medical OEM Expands Catheter Capabilities With A Lined, Variable-Pitch, Coil-Reinforced Shaft Technology

Teleflex Medical OEM, a global leader in custom-engineered diagnostic and interventional catheters, announces the addition of a continuously-wound, variable-pitch, coil-reinforced shaft technology with a HDPE (high-density polyethylene) liner to its portfolio of catheter shaft capabilities. The innovative technology gives original equipment manufacturers new options for achieving precise performance characteristics along the catheter shaft while lowering assembly costs and improving kink resistance.

Since endovascular devices are becoming longer and thinner, there is a need for catheters with a rigid proximal end for pushability and torque without kinking or buckling, and a flexible distal end for successful navigation through tortuous pathways. Teleflex Medical OEM's variable-pitch, reinforcement technology allows the highly-customized shaft performance characteristics without the assembly costs and weak bonded joints associated with traditional methods of catheter manufacturing.

Teleflex Medical OEM enhances the technology by adding a HDPE liner to reduce internal fiction. The tie-layer material adheres to the metal coil wire and allows excellent lamination to be maintained even with a very tightly pitched coil. It is now possible to make the pitch of the coiled catheter significantly tighter than what can be achieved with a hand-assembled catheter. Pitches of 1.2X are possible in the tightly wound region while maintaining excellent lamination. On the proximal/hub end, the pitch can be relaxed to 3-5:1 to provide kink resistance while maximizing tensile strength.

Potential applications for this technology includes graft or valve delivery, and any application where a combination of resistance to ovalization on the distal/deployment end and high tensile strength on the proximal/hub ends are required in a medical device.