Product News

Catheter and Stent Manufacturing

  • Teleflex Medical OEM Expands Irish Plant
    INDUSTRY NEWS To meet current production needs and to add some elbow room for new product development, Teleflex Medical OEM has spent US$500,000 to expand its facility in Annacotty, Co. Limerick, Ireland. The initiative is described as the first installment in a long-term strategy ...
    (May, 2007)
  • Spray Technology Improves Catheter-Coating Process
    Low-pressure valves won’t plug small openings
    (May, 2007)
  • The Search For Endothelium Friendly Stents
    The concern regarding late-stent thrombosis with the use of drug-eluting stents provides the basis for an examination of alternative approaches to stent design. This article outlines the biological mechanisms behind the thrombosis and hence provides a framework for understanding the types of drug ac...
    (May, 2007)
  • Using Ultrasonic Spray Nozzles To Coat Drug-Eluting Stents
    Polymer coatings containing drugs released over time are used to inhibit restenosis in bare-metal stents; however applying coatings to stents, which have intricate geometries, is challenging. Ultrasonic atomising spray nozzles can be effective in achieving continuous and uniform coatings. This artic...
    (November, 2006)
  • Late Thrombosis and Drug-Eluting Stents
    On 14 September 2006, the United States Food and Drug Administration indicated that it had some concern over “small but significant” increases in the rates of death in patients treated with drug-eluting stents. This article considers the background and consequences of this matter.
    (November, 2006)
  • Catheter Manufacturing Plant Opens in Shenzhen, China
    INDUSTRY NEWS A manufacturer of PTCA balloon catheters, coronary stent delivery systems, and related products on a contract basis has announced the completion of a 12,000-sq-ft facility in Shenzhen, China. Located in the Futian Free Trade Zone,...
    (October, 2006)
  • Irish Manufacturer Expands Angioplasty Product Offering
    INDUSTRY NEWS With more than 600,000 angioplasties performed in Europe alone in 2005, the procedure is one of the most common medical interventions performed worldwide. Clearstream Technologies (Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford, Ireland), a manufacturer of stents, catheters, and ...
    (September, 2006)
  • Improving the Deliverability of PCI Catheters
    A recent study1 assessing views of interventional cardiologists on the performance of catheters used in angioplasty, also known as percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI), indicates that there is a need for improvement in the catheter. The particular areas of improvement are reviewed here with som...
    (May, 2006)
  • Hypotubes with Improved Kink Resistance Safeguard Angioplasty Patients
    Industry News During angioplasty, an immense amount of force typically must be exerted to guide a catheter through an artery. Occasionally a lesion is dense enough to halt the catheter’s progress entirely; sometimes the resistance is su...
    (March, 2006)
  • Recent developments in moulding equipment
    Originally Published EMDM January 2006 Equipment News Balloon-forming machine supports radially opening moulds Balloons suitable for angioplasty, stent delivery, and other dilation and occlusion applications can be produced using a computerized machine. The “C...
    (January, 2006)
  • Market Watch on Drug-Eluting Stents
    Originally Published EMDM January 2006 Market Watch Drug-Eluting Stents J&J and Boston Scientific have profited handsomely from their blockbuster devices, but competition for this lucrative market is ramping up just as questions begin to surface about the cost-effectiveness...
    (January, 2006)
  • To combat price erosion, manufacturers are finding novel ways to add value and reduce production costs.
    Originally Published EMDM September 2005 Market Watch Catheters Norbert Sparrow Very thin layers of a diamond-like carbon coating, applied to stents and catheters in a plasma chamber, could prevent encrustation. Maturity may be a desira...
    (September, 2005)
  • In Brief
    Originally Published EMDM November/December 2004 Industry News Avenue Mould Achieves Certification Milestone Avenue Mould Ltd. (Sligo, Ireland) has achieved certification to the EN/ISO 13485:2003 quality management system standard for manufacturers of...
    (November, 2004)
  • K Stands for Katheter
    Originally Published EMDM November/December 2004 A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR K Stands for Katheter I just flew back from the K show in Düsseldorf, and boy are my arms tired. Not from flapping, as that hackneyed joke would have it, but from lugging reams of press kits all ...
    (November, 2004)
  • Med-Tech Finds a Place in the Sun in Central Florida
    Originally Published EMDM October 2004 Regional Focus Med-Tech Finds a Place in the Sun in Central Florida Mention Florida, and thoughts invariably turn to perpetual sunshine, Miami Beach, Walt Disney World, and surreal voting practices. Medical technology isn’t on most people’...
    (October, 2004)
  • Water Jet–Guided Laser Cutting Improves Stent Fabrication
    Originally Published EMDM October 2004 ENGINEERING INSIGHT The process minimizes thermal damage  A cut with a conventional laser shows thermal damage on its backside, and has a rough edge.  Cleanroom-compatible water jet–guided laser cutting reportedly eliminates m...
    (October, 2004)
  • Tube-Shrinking System Boosts Throughput for Catheter Manufacturers
    Originally Published EMDM May/June 2004 Technology News Rita Emmanouilidou Engineered for flexibility, the Shrink Cycler 810A accommodates a variety of length and speed settings in a single cycle. A new tube...
    (May, 2004)
  • Fresh Coats for Drug-Eluting Stents
    Originally Published EMDM May/June 2003 Product Update Rita Emmanouilidou and Melody Lee The sirolimus-eluting Cypher stent from Cordis Corp. is coated with a polymeric matrix that slowly releases the drug over a period of 90 days. With the drug-el...
    (May, 2004)
  • Segmental Compression Technology Enters Catheterization Labs
    Originally Published EMDM March/April 2004 Technology News Segmental Compression Technology Enters Catheterization Labs Designed for crimping and loading stents with living tissues in catheterization labs, the HV100 comprises a sterilizable base and disposable segmental crimping mecha...
    (March, 2004)
  • Materials Supplier Enters Braided Catheter Market
    Originally Published EMDM March/April 2004 INDUSTRY NEWS Fine-diameter specialty wire can be manufactured in thicknesses down to 0.00075 in. The braiding process enhances kink and pressure resistance and offers control and maximization of torque. A recent investment in improved manufact...
    (March, 2004)
  • Medical Technology on the Move
    Originally Published EMDM January/February 2003 Product Update Medical Technology on the Move Rita Emmanouilidou Two Micro Linear motors form an x-y stage that provides fast, repetitive, high-accuracy positioning of glass slides for white blood cell imaging. A...
    (January, 2004)
  • Bioreactor Advances Functional Tissue Engineering
    Originally Published EMDM November 2003 TECHNOLOGY NEWS The six-station Items Bioreactor from EnduraTec enables researchers to explore issues that will become critical as tissue engineering moves from the laboratory to production. Tissue-engineered products are expected to play a leadi...
    (November, 2003)
  • Thermistors Balance Size and Accuracyin Catheter Applications
    Originally Published EMDM September 2003 Technology News Thermistors Balance Size and Accuracy in Catheter Applications MCD thermistors from BetaTherm have a minimum bead size of 0.38 mm OD. Temperature sensors have been developed to respond to market demands for miniaturization and...
    (September, 2003)
  • Automatic Catheter Tipper Smooths Transition from R&D to Production
    Originally Published EMDM May 2003 TECHNOLOGY NEWS An automatic catheter-tipping system uses air to heat and cool glass or metal tip-forming dies. At the prototype stage, catheter tipping is often done with the use of glass dies. When the device is ready to go into production, howev...
    (May, 2003)
  • Catheter-manufacturing system forms large profiles
    An established line of catheter-manufacturing systems now includes a new higher-power model that is able to perform multiple part tipping and to form large-profile and long-neck-down catheters with speed and accuracy. The PIRF III system developed by Sebra (Tucson, AZ, USA) also features temperat...
    (March, 2003)