A CATHETER LINER AND A METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME

Abstract: A fluoropolymeric thinwall catheter liner of tape-wrapped construction is described, as well as a catheter tube comprising said catheter liner and a method of making such a catheter liner. By wrapping a tape of a thin fluoropolymer around a mandrel to form a tube it is possible to produce a fluoropolymeric catheter liner of thinner wall than has been previously possible with tube extrusion techniques. A thinner wall allows an increase in the carrying capacity of any catheter of given outside diameter, thereby increasing the effectiveness of the catheter.

Description: A CATHETER LINER AND A METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a fluoropolymeric thinwall catheter liner of tape-wrapped construction, to catheters incorporating this liner, and to methods of producing such a fluoropolymeric thinwall catheter liner and catheters using the liner. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Fluoropolymers are preferred materials for medical catheters because they are bioco patible, inert, and lubricious. There is little risk of adverse biological or chemical reaction with fluoropolymer catheters. Their lubricious surfaces allow them to be used effectively as guiding catheters or used in conjunction with guidewire devices. Fluoropolymer catheters have less than ideal handling and structural characteristics. Relative to other available catheter materials, fluoropolymers offer relatively poor flexibility and kink resistance, poor crush resistance, inadequate column strength to allow the catheter to be pushed through complex passageways without buckling, and are liable to buckle when subjected to torsional forces. Because of the compromises involved between the mechanical, biological and chemical requirements for catheter performance, many available "high performance" catheters are of composite construction that uses two or more different materials in order to take advantage of their different desirable properties. For example, a common composite construction involves the use of an outer polymeric jacket of, for example, polyethylene, an intermediate layer of a structural fiber such as braided stainless steel wire and an inner surface liner of a fluoropolymer such as fluorinated ethylene propylene (hereinafter FEP) or polytetrafluoroethylene (hereinafter PTFE). These composite catheters are able to offer an inert and lubricious inner fluoropolymeric surface, good column strength, crush resistance and torque resistance due to the intermediate structural fiber, and finally, good flexibility with a smooth outer surface due to the outer polymeric jacket. One drawback to these composite construction catheters is their overall thickness. The outside diameter of a catheter is limited by the space available within the body passages that it is required to negotiate. The available inside diameter and consequent catheter volume is thus limited by the thickness of the composite construction that makes up the wall of the catheter. As the purpose of the inner surface liner is to provide an inert and lubricious surface without any structural requirements other than maintaining an uninterrupted surface, the liner may functionally be very thin. Fluoropolymer liners have heretofore been extruded with wall thickness down to about 0.0015 inches. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a catheter liner comprised of a fluoropolymer tape wrapped around a mandrel to form a tube. The mandrel is subsequently removed from the inside of the liner. It also relates to catheters incorporating such a liner, and to methods of making the liner and catheters incorporating the liner. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIGURE 1 shows a perspective view of a helically tape-wrapped fluoropolymer catheter liner of the present invention after the manufacturing mandrel has been removed. FIGURE 2 shows a longitudinal section of a helically tape- wrapped fluoropolymer catheter liner of the present invention prior to the application of an outer jacket and prior to the removal of the manufacturing mandrel. FIGURE 3 shows the construction of a finished catheter incorporating a helically tape-wrapped fluoropolymer catheter liner of the present invention, further having a first outer jacket of braided wire adjacent to and surrounding the liner and a second outer jacket of polyethylene adjacent to and surrounding the first jacket of braided wire. FIGURE 4 shows a cross section of a longitudinally applied tape- wrap forming the fluoropolymer catheter liner of the present invention wherein the tape edges are abutted. FIGURE 5 shows a cross section of a longitudinally applied tape- wrap forming the fluoropolymer catheter liner of the present invention wherein the tape edges are overlapped. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION By wrapping a fluoropolymer tape around a mandrel to form a tube, it has been found possible to produce a fluoropolymer catheter liner having a thinner wall than previously available extruded fluoropolymer catheter liners. As shown in Figure 1, the catheter liner 6 of the present invention is made by diametrically slicing film rolls of wide, thin fluoropolymer film into rolls of narrow tape and wrapping the tape around a suitable mandrel. The tape may be wrapped around the mandrel either longitudinally, i.e., in cigarette wrap fashion, or helically. The tape edges may be abutted to adjacent tape edges or preferably adjacent tape edges may be overlapped. The wrapped tape is then heat-treated to melt-bond the edges of the tape to the adjacent layer of tape. The covering outer jacket or jackets may then be applied. Figure 2 describes a longitudinal section of a catheter liner of the present invention prior to the application of an outer jacket and prior to removal of the manufacturing mandrel 10. In this configuration a helically applied tape wrapping is shown wherein half of the width of each tape layer 11 overlaps half of the width of the adjacent tape layer 12. In this fashion the liner is comprised of at least two layers of tape at any cross section and each tape edge is covered by the mid-portion of the width of the adjacent tape layer. It is apparent that more than two layers can be used if deemed necessary. It is also apparent that only one layer can provide a continuous fluoropolymer liner if the adjacent tape edges are sealed together by melt-bonding. Figure 3 shows one possible catheter construction 7 using the catheter liner of the present invention. The tape-wrapped tubular liner 6 is shown having a braided first surrounding jacket of structural fibers 13, e.g., stainless steel wire or Nylon® fibers, and further having a second surrounding jacket of a polymeric material with a smooth outer surface, e.g., polyethylene. Figures 4 and 5 present different methods of finishing the tape edges. Figure 4 shows the tape edges 14 abutted while Figure 5 shows one tape edge 15 overlapping the second tape edge 16. Either abutted edges or overlapped edges may be used with helical and longitudinal wrapping techniques. Abutted edges offer the option of minimizing the wall thickness while overlapped edges offer the most secure bond. Melt-bonding together of adjacent edge surfaces is done thermally as previously described. Fluoropolymer tape-wrapped catheter liners can also be made to serve as exterior-surface liners for any desired type of catheter simply by applying the tape to the outer surface of the catheter construction as applied around a mandrel to produce an inner liner. Fluoropolymer tapes used herein include tapes of polytetrafluoroethylene, fluorinated ethylene propylene copolymer, perfluoro(alkyl vinyl ether) and ethylene/ fluoroethylene copolymers. Such a fluoropolymeric catheter liner can be produced with PTFE film of 0.0005 inch thickness, available in rolls from Norton Performance Plastics, Wayne, New Jersey. A roll may be sliced diametrically using a sharp blade while rotating the roll so that a narrow roll of tape is produced. In constructing the catheter of the following description, a tape of 0.50 inch width can be sliced from the roll of film. Using conventional tape-wrapping techniques, a length of this tape can be helically wrapped around a silver plated copper wire mandrel of 0.082 inch diameter. A slight amount of tension applied to the tape will allow it to lay uniformly and to fit tightly to the surface of the mandrel. The selected pitch results in the application of two layers of film over the surface of the mandrel. With a two-layer covering of film, all film edges are covered with an overlying or underlying layer of film as shown in Figure 2. The tape- wrapped mandrel can then be placed into an oven set at 380°C for a period sufficient to melt-bond the tape edges to the adjacent tape -5- surfaces. This heat-treating process will result in the melt-bonding together of adjacent surfaces of the wrapped tape. The heat-treated tube, still on the wire mandrel, can then be immersed in a tank containing TETRA-ETCH® (W. L. Gore & Associates, Flagstaff, Arizona) 5 for a period of about 15 seconds at about 25 degrees C. Residual TETRA-ETCH can then be removed in a rinse of isopropyl alcohol. The etching process will allow the subsequently applied layer of stainless steel wire braid to mechanically grip the outer surface of the tape- wrapped tube. This braid can be applied with a Steeger braiding 10 machine using about 40 gauge stainless steel wire applied at about 30 picks per inch. Following the application of the braid, the assembly can be fed through a one inch screw extruder where an outer jacket of 0.014 inch thick polyethylene can be applied. The catheter tubing comprising the tape-wrapped liner, braided wire jacket and extruded 15 polyethylene outer jacket, all surrounding the wire mandrel, can then be cut into desired lengths (typically 4.5 feet) using a wire cutting tool. The wire mandrel can then be extracted from the lumen of the catheter tubing by stripping about two inches of the liner, braid and jacket from each end, gripping the exposed wire and applying tension 20 to cause the wire to stretch. The stretch can cause a reduction in the diameter of the wire mandrel, freeing it from the surface of the catheter liner and allowing removal of the catheter tubing from the mandrel. Any desired catheter fittings or terminations may then be attached to the catheter tubing by existing techniques (e.g., 25 injection molding or by the use of adhesives). This process allows the manufacture of very long continuous lengths of catheter tubing which may subsequently be cut into any desired shorter length. The use of certain metallic mandrel surfaces during manufacture may leave toxic residues which must be removed, 30 preferably by flushing the catheter liner surface with an appropriate solvent. Mandrels of other materials may also be used, e.g., polymeric mandrels of FEP or PTFE. The essential requirements of the mandrel are that it has a smooth exterior surface, that it is removable from the catheter liner surface after the catheter has been 35 cut to length, and that any potentially harmful residue mandrel material is easily and entirely removable. The use of inert mandrel materials such as fluoropolymers is thus preferred. The mandrel may be of the form of a tube (hollow) or of a rod (solid). EXAMPLE 1 A 75 foot length of fluoropolymeric catheter liner was made by helically tape-wrapping an FEP tape (from Norton Performance Plastics, Wayne, New Jersey) of 0.5 inch width and 0.0006 inch thickness about a mandrel of PTFE tubing (from Teleflex, Jeffrey, New Hampshire) of 0.077 outside diameter and about 75 foot length. The tape was under tension during tape-wrapping, causing about 3% elongation and thinning of the tape to a thickness of about 0.0005 inches. The tape was applied with conventional tape-wrapping equipment to give a total wall thickness of two layers of tape at any cross section of the mandrel. The tape-wrapped mandrel was heat treated to melt-bond the tape edges in an oven set at 340°C for about 27 seconds, then etched, rinsed and braided according to the description of Example 1. A 2 foot length of FEP heat shrink tubing (SPC Technologies, Gaffney, North Carolina) was placed over a 2 foot length cut from the braided mandrel. The outside diameter of this tubing before shrinking was .250 inches, with a 0.010 inch thick wall. Heat shrinking was accomplished by pulling the tape- wrapped and braided mandrel with surrounding FEP tubing through a hollow, heated (340°C) die of 0.140 inch inside diameter and 1.0 inch length at a rate of about 1 foot per minute. The die was contained within a six inch long oven set at 340°C that allowed pre-heating of the tubing before it contacted the die. In this manner the FEP heat shrink tubing formed the outer jacket of the catheter construction. About two inches of tape-wrapping, braid and jacket was stripped from each end of the mandrel. One exposed mandrel end was gripped between the jaws of a vise and tension was applied to the mandrel by pulling the other exposed mandrel end by hand. The tension caused elongation of the tubular PTFE mandrel, reducing its diameter and allowing the finished catheter comprised of the FEP tape-wrapped liner, the braided covering and surrounding outer FEP jacket to be removed from the mandrel without damage to the catheter.

Claims: We Claim: 1. A catheter liner comprised of a fluoropolymer tape wrapped into the form of a tube. 2. A catheter liner according to claim 1 wherein said tape is helically applied. 3. A catheter liner according to claim 1 wherein said tape is longitudinally applied. 4. A catheter liner according to claim 1 wherein said tape is applied in at least two layers wherein one layer overlaps the other layer. 5. A catheter liner according to claim 4 wherein said overlapping tape layers are melt-bonded together. 6. A catheter liner according to claim 1 wherein said liner has a wall thickness less than or equal to 0.0015 inches. 7. A catheter liner according to claim 1 wherein said liner has a wall thickness less than or equal to 0.0010 inches. 8. A catheter tube comprised of a fluoropolymer tape-wrapped tubular liner and at least one outer tubular jacket that concentrically surrounds said tubular liner. 9. A catheter tube according to claim 8 wherein said outer jacket is comprised of polyethylene. 10. A catheter tube according to claim 8 wherein said outer jacket is comprised of braided stainless steel wire. 11. A catheter liner comprised of a fluoropolymer tube having a spiral seam. 12. A catheter liner comprising a fluoropolymer tube having a longitudinal seam. 13. A catheter liner according to claim 11 or 12 wherein said tube has a wall thickness less than or equal to 0.0010. 14. A method of making a fluoropolymeric catheter liner which comprises wrapping a fluoropolymer tape around a mandrel to form a tube. 15. The method of claim 14 wherein the tape is helically wrapped around said mandrel. 16. The method of claim 14 wherein the tape is longitudinally wrapped around said mandrel. 17. The method of claim 14 wherein said tape is wrapped in overlapping layers, further comprising melt-bonding said overlapping layers together. 18. The method of claim 14 which further comprises removing the mandrel from the catheter liner.

Inventors: CRAWLEY JERALD MATHEW, DAVIDSON DANIEL FRANCIS, MYERS DAVID JOHN, CRAWLEY, JERALD, MATHEW, DAVIDSON, DANIEL, FRANCIS, MYERS, DAVID, JOHN
Applicants: GORE & ASS, W.L. GORE & ASSOCIATES, INC.
Application year: 1991
Main classification: A61M25
IPC codes: A61M25