Medical-surgical catheter
First Claim
1. An improved flexible medical-surgical tube which has a circumferential exterior wall with a smooth surface for the entire wall, which wall defines an outer annular layer within the tube, which tube comprises a thermoplastic material, which material defines a longitudinal region integrally coextruded through the thermoplastic material, which region extends continuously throughout the entire length of the tube, which longitudinal thermoplastic region consists of a homogeneous blend of thermo-plastic and radiopaque material which is homogeneously dispersed throughout said thermoplastic longitudinal region, said region being completely embedded in the thermoplastic material throughout the entire length of the tube.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A medical-surgical catheter comprising an extruded tube of flexible material including a plastic material transparent to X-ray radiation and defining the entire interior and exterior surfaces of the tube to provide smooth surfaces of low coefficient of friction and a integrally extruded radiopaque layer completely embedded within and surrounded by the plastic material and extending along the tube between the ends thereof. The radiopaque layer comprises a blended mixture of radiopaque material and the plastic material with the blended mixture of the layer completely surrounded by a pure composition of the plastic material. The radiopaque layer may comprise an annular tube with an outer annular layer of the plastic material and an inner annular layer of the plastic material or the radiopaque layer may comprise a pair of diametrically opposed strips or the radiopaque layer may comprise a plurality of circumferentially spaced strips extending in a helical path along the tube.
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Citations
18 Claims
- 1. An improved flexible medical-surgical tube which has a circumferential exterior wall with a smooth surface for the entire wall, which wall defines an outer annular layer within the tube, which tube comprises a thermoplastic material, which material defines a longitudinal region integrally coextruded through the thermoplastic material, which region extends continuously throughout the entire length of the tube, which longitudinal thermoplastic region consists of a homogeneous blend of thermo-plastic and radiopaque material which is homogeneously dispersed throughout said thermoplastic longitudinal region, said region being completely embedded in the thermoplastic material throughout the entire length of the tube.
- 15. An improved flexible medical-surgical tube which tube consists of a thermoplastic material which tube has a circumferential exterior wall which has a smooth, protusion-free surface for the entire length and circumference of the tube, which material defines a plurality of longitudinal regions which each extend uninterruptedly throughout the entire length of the tube, which longitudinal regions consist throughout of a homogeneous blend of thermoplastic material and a radiopaque material homogeneously dispersed throughout said thermoplastic region and said regions being completely embedded in the thermoplastic material through the entire length of the tube.
Specification