Hydrophilic Catheter Coatings With Adhesive Base Layers
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Solution Overview
Problem
Catheters and microcatheters made of thermoplastic polymers experience high frictional forces, making vascular navigation difficult.
Innovation Solution
Application of a dual-layer coating comprising a base coat and a top coat, where the base coat is a copolymer of tetrahydrofurfuryl acrylate monomer with functional groups for binding, and the top coat is a hydrophilic polymer to reduce friction, enhancing lubricity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If a thermoplastic polymer coating is applied to the catheter surface, then the catheter gains structural integrity and durability, but the frictional forces between the catheter and vessel wall increase, making vascular navigation difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The coating is divided into two distinct layers: a base coat providing structural integrity and a top coat providing lubricity. This segmentation allows each layer to optimize its specific function without compromising the other, resolving the contradiction between strength and ease of operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention uses a composite coating structure combining a thermoplastic polymer base coat with a hydrophilic top coat. This composite material approach allows the catheter to simultaneously achieve structural durability from the base coat and reduced friction from the hydrophilic top coat, enabling easy vascular navigation.
2Ease of operation
If a single-layer lubricious coating is applied to reduce friction, then the catheter becomes easier to navigate, but the coating durability and adhesion to the thermoplastic surface deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The base coat acts as an intermediary layer between the thermoplastic catheter surface and the hydrophilic top coat. It provides strong adhesion to the thermoplastic surface while offering binding sites for the top coat, ensuring durable coating attachment and preventing premature failure.
Solution Approach 2:
The adhesion function is extracted and assigned to the base coat, while the lubricity function is assigned to the top coat. This functional separation ensures that the lubricious top coat can be optimized for friction reduction without compromising overall coating adhesion, as the base coat专门 handles the adhesion requirement.
3Ease of operation
If a thick coating is applied to maximize lubricity, then frictional forces are significantly reduced, but the coating application complexity and curing time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The coating is segmented into two functional layers with distinct thicknesses optimized for their specific purposes. The base coat provides structural support with appropriate thickness for adhesion, while the top coat provides lubricity with optimized thickness for friction reduction, allowing each layer to be applied and cured efficiently without excessive overall complexity.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The coatings significantly reduce frictional forces, improving the trackability of medical devices through tortuous vasculature by up to 99%.
Implementation Method 1
a base coat including a copolymer of a first tetrahydrofurfuryl acrylate monomer and a second monomer including a functional group amenable to further derivatization and plurality of reactive moieties
Implementation Method 2
a top coat including a hydrophilic polymer containing more than two reactive moieties per molecule... The top coat is designed to adhere to the base coat and provide lubricity to reduce the frictional forces
Implementation Method 3
The coatings can be synthetic and durable and lubricious. In some embodiments, the coatings can be ultra-violet (UV) cured.
Data Source
AI summary
Lubricious coatings for medical devices and their uses are described. The coatings can be synthetic and durable and lubricious. In some embodiments, the coatings can be ultra-violet (UV) cured. Lubricious coatings can reduce and/or minimize frictional forces between a medical device, such as a catheter or microcatheter, and a vessel wall, thereby enhancing trackability of the medical device throughout the vasculature.