Multifilament drawn radiopaque highly elastic cables and methods of making the same
First Claim
1. A radiopaque cable, comprising:
- at least two nickel-titanium wires twined about a core wire and drawn through at least one die to form a flexible cable having a substantially circular cross section, wherein said core wire comprises at least one of gold, silver, and platinum-iridium, and has a density substantially greater than the density of said nickel-titanium wires.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A highly flexible radiopaque cable includes two, and preferably three or more strands of nickel-titanium (NiTi) alloy wire which are twined about a higher density core wire preferably made of at least one of silver, gold or platinum-iridium to form a wire rope. The wire rope is drawn through successive dies to reduce its diameter until the outer surface of the cable is substantially smooth, the cross section of the cable is substantially circular, and the overall diameter of the wire rope is reduced by 20-50%. The cable is then annealed to remove the effects of cold working. The resulting cable has been found to have a substantially equal or improved flexibility (i.e., a lower modulus of elasticity) relative to single strand nickel-titanium wires of the same diameter and a higher radiopacity. In an alternative embodiment, no core wire is utilized, and the higher density wire is drawn with two or more strands of NiTi wire. In another embodiment, the higher density wire is radioactive.
174 Citations
23 Claims
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1. A radiopaque cable, comprising:
at least two nickel-titanium wires twined about a core wire and drawn through at least one die to form a flexible cable having a substantially circular cross section, wherein said core wire comprises at least one of gold, silver, and platinum-iridium, and has a density substantially greater than the density of said nickel-titanium wires. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A radiopaque cable, comprising:
at least two nickel-titanium wires and a relatively higher density wire comprised of at least one of gold, silver, and platinum-iridium and having a density substantially greater than the density of said nickel-titanium wires, said at least two nickel-titanium wires and said relatively higher density wire being twined and drawn through at least one die to form a flexible cable having a substantially circular cross section. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A method of making a flexible radiopaque cable, comprising:
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a) twisting at least two strands of nickel-titanium wire about a core wire comprised of at least one of gold, silver, and platinum-iridium and having a higher density than said nickel-titanium to form a wire rope; and b) drawing the wire rope through at least one die to form a cable having a substantially circular cross section. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A method of making a flexible radiopaque cable, comprising:
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a) twisting at least two strands of nickel-titanium wire about a core wire having a higher density than said nickel-titanium to form a wire rope; b) drawing the wire rose through at least one die to form a cable having a substantially circular cross section; c) annealing the cable to remove the effects of cold-working; and d) cutting said cable to a desired length, and grinding an end portion of said length to a smaller diameter than the remainder of said length. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23)
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21. A method of making a flexible radiopaque cable, comprising:
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a) twisting at least two strands of nickel-titanium wire and an additional wire comprising at least one of gold, silver and platinum-iridium and having a higher density than said nickel-titanium to form a wire rope; and b) drawing the wire rope through at least one die to form a cable having a substantially circular cross section.
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Specification