A chest drainage system securing apparatus for securing and maintaining chest drainage systems in position following placement into a human or animal patient and preventing movement or unplanned removal thereof in response to the application of significant forces in any direction thereto, be they longitudinal, torsional/rotational or bending. The securement system includes retention devices secured to a chest tube which interact with an adhesive pad releasably attached to a patient to ensure proper positioning of the chest tube. The adhesive pad includes one or more Heimlich-type valves for sealing sucking chest wounds and for sealing an incision formed in a patients skin and chest for the placement and insertion of a chest tube.

A protective device for an elongate catheter carrying a functional element, in particular a stent or a balloon, in particular a balloon coated with an active substance, on a distal end portion of the catheter. The protective device includes a protector configured to be arranged on the distal end portion so that the functional element is surrounded by the protector. A protective sleeve surrounds an interior to receive the catheter together with the protector. The protective sleeve has at least one projection on an inner side of the protective sleeve facing the interior of the protective sleeve. The projection is configured to retain the protector when the catheter together with the protector is arranged in the interior of the protective sleeve and the catheter is withdrawn from the protective sleeve so that the protector is pulled off the distal end portion of the catheter.

A guiding device for a vascular catheter that is inserted over a guidewire. The guiding device comprising a tapered component for passing through a bore of the vascular catheter and extending from a distal end thereof. The tapered component has an aperture through which the guidewire may pass so that the tapered component (12) may move along the guidewire. A pushing means extends from the tapered component and is configured to extend beyond a proximal end of the vascular catheter. The tapered component comprises a first section, a second section and the third section. The first section is disposed between the proximal end of the tapered component and the second section, the second section is disposed between the first section and the third section, and the third section is disposed between the second section and a distal end of the tapered component. The first section is a cylinder and the second and the third sections are conical. The taper of the second section differs from the taper of the third section.

A rigidizing device includes an elongate flexible tube, a braid layer positioned over the elongate flexible tube, an outer layer over the flexible tube and the braid layer, and an inlet between the elongate flexible tube and the outer layer and configured to attach to a source of vacuum or pressure. The braid layer has a plurality of strands braided together at a braid angle of 5-40 degrees relative to a longitudinal axis of the elongate flexible tube when the elongate flexible tube is straight. The rigidizing device is configured to have a rigid configuration when vacuum or pressure is applied through the inlet and a flexible configuration when vacuum or pressure is not applied through the inlet. The braid angle is configured to change as the rigidizing device bends when the rigidizing device is in the flexible configuration.

Methods of making sleeved and packaged hydrophilic urinary catheters (10).

The present disclosure provides a catheter (100) including a first end (102), a second end (104), and a lumen (106) extending from the first end to the second end. The catheter has a first portion (108) arranged at the first end, a second portion (110) arranged adjacent to the first portion, and a third portion (112) arranged adjacent to the second portion. The first portion of the catheter has a first cut pattern in an exterior surface of the catheter, and the second portion of the catheter has a second cut pattern in the exterior surface of the catheter that is different from the first cut pattern. The third portion of the catheter has a third cut pattern in the exterior surface of the catheter that is different from the first cut pattern and the second cut pattern.

The present disclosure is a catheter assembly and related method that allows laceration of either a surgical valve or transcatheter valve leaflet to facilitate flow to the coronary arteries during valve in valve interventions.

The present disclosure is a catheter assembly and related method that allows laceration of either a surgical valve or transcatheter valve leaflet to facilitate flow to the coronary arteries during valve in valve interventions.

An elongated medical instrument includes a base material part, and an outer layer part made of a resin provided on a surface of the base material part. An outer surface of the outer layer part is a substantially flat surface other than the presence of irregularly disposed recesses or protrusions.

An elongated medical instrument includes a base material part, and an outer layer part made of a resin provided on a surface of the base material part. An outer surface of the outer layer part is a substantially flat surface other than the presence of irregularly disposed recesses or protrusions.