Polyurethane radiopaque marker for indwelling devices

✍ Scribed by Boretos, John W. ;Girton, Mary E. ;Doppman, John L.

• Book ID: 102292097
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1986
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 344 KB
• Volume: 20
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0021-9304
• DOI: 10.1002/jbm.820200215

✦ Synopsis

Catheterization of small blood vessels for the treatment of arteriovenous malformations, vascular aneurysms, carotid-cavernous fistulas and tumors often requires microcatheters of 1 to 2 mm diameter. Flow-guided balloon catheters or various fluidpressurized catheters have been developed for this need and are capable of navigating the tortuous vascular pathways. Many of these catheters have thin walls (30-90 Fm), which makes it difficult to see them under direct fluoroscopy or even image them on films, especially during administration of nonradiopaque chemotherapeutic agents.

Conventionally used radiopaque fillers (salts of lead, bismuth, and barium) within their walls do not impart sufficient density, in these sizes, to differentiate the microcatheters from surrounding tissue and bone.

Solar and Kafesjian' recognized the problems of reliability and safety for obtaining radiopacity by metal banding or gold deposition coating for such small tubes. They proposed a radiopaque compound for catheter tips made from a blend of polyvinyl chloride and tantalum. Although their in vivo experience showed the material to be tissue