Patent ID: 6755776
Filing Date: 2004-06-29
Classification: A61N

Abstract:
A method of making a flexible radiation therapy wire for use in reducing restenosis by radiation at a site within a vascular structure following angioplasty, comprising the steps of:providing an elongate flexible wire formed of stainless steel having a distal end; placing at least the distal end of said stainless steel wire in a vacuum chamber; vaporizing a phosphorus target material selected from the group consisting of phosphorus pentoxide and red phosphorus in said vacuum chamber by means of an electric arc; applying a negative charge to a section of the distal end of the stainless steel wire; introducing nitrogen gas into the vacuum chamber such that the phosphorus ions are mixed with nitrogen gas to form a plasma; applying a high positive charge to the plasma such that highly charged positive ions of the phosphorus plasma are attracted to the negatively charged surface of the stainless steel wire to ionically bond the phosphorus target material into the surface of the stainless steel material and form a substantially unitary structure; and bombarding the area of the stainless steel wire having the ionically bonded phosphorus target material with a high flux of neutrons in a nuclear reactor.