In some examples, a catheter includes an elongated body comprising proximal and distal portions. The distal portion of the elongated body comprises an inner liner that includes a proximal liner section and a distal liner section that include different materials, and an outer jacket positioned over the inner liner. The distal liner section has a first hardness and the proximal liner section has a second hardness, where the first hardness is less than the second hardness.

The invention refers to endovascular catheters and methods useful to endovascular surgery. In particular, it refers to support catheters with balloons that are used for the placement or the forwarding of the guidewire through demanding tortuosity and important vascular stenoses in cases where the guidewire needs the best possible backup support of the catheter. This is achieved with the development of an endovascular support catheter with a mobile balloon, which has the ability to move along the body of the catheter, at its distal part. The movement of the balloon is achieved with the use of two mobile external rings, one inner wire circuit, and one control handle which is found at the proximal end of the device. The mobile balloon allows the catheter to move inside the vessel even when it is inflated and basically anchored within the vessel.

An intermittent catheter, preferably a female intermittent catheter, is provided in an assembly. The assembly may include a cap which may be attachable to the base of the assembly in use, and/or a seal which misaligns with sealing surfaces of a chamber wall and a moveable insert in use. It may have a two-step deployment, and/or a sheath that pulls out a storage chamber. Internal and external housing may define the storage chamber. The housing may have a filling aperture and/or the storage chamber may comprise an insert configured to move axially in response to rotation.

A closed-system urinary catheter with a low viscosity gel lubrication is disclosed. The system has an uncoated catheter, but a hydrophilic coated catheter could be used. The low viscosity lubricating gel within the sachet uniformly coats the catheter when the sachet is ruptured just prior to use. A low viscosity lubrication gel could alternatively be place in the area inside the sheath and external to the catheter. Therefore, the variability that occurs with a hydrophilic catheter or the areas of a non-lubricated catheter with the higher viscosity gel catheters is avoided.

A wetting device for wetting a catheter. The wetting device has an enclosure bounding the wetting device and enclosing a chamber, the enclosure having at least two wetting device apertures in a surface of the enclosure though which a catheter tube passes. The wetting device also has a port disposed through the enclosure thereof for loading wetting agent into the chamber.

The disclosure includes a catheter comprising a proximal end, a distal end located opposite the proximal end, an outer surface extending between the proximal end and the distal end, and an inner surface located opposite the outer surface, wherein the inner surface is configured to also extend between the proximal end and the distal end. In some embodiments, each of the outer and inner surfaces is coated in a hydrophilic coating. The hydrophilic coating may be configured to reduce surface tension and increase the lubricity of the catheter.

Catheter devices provide for rolling movement between the inner and outer catheter tubes with a roller assembly in a radial gap between the inner and outer catheter tubes. Devices of the invention are particularly useful in minimally invasive implantations, such as the implantation of a vascular implant. A particular application is interventional catheter-assisted aortic valve implantation.

The disclosure includes a catheter system comprising an inner catheter and an outer catheter configured to at least partially receive the inner catheter. Each of the inner catheter and the outer catheter may comprise an outer surface and an inner surface, wherein each of the outer and inner surfaces may be coated in a hydrophilic coating. In some embodiments, the hydrophilic coating is configured to reduce surface tension and increase lubricity of the inner catheter and the outer catheter.

A method of making a ready-to-use catheter assembly is provided, which can be immediately used by a patient. The ready-to-use catheter assembly ensures that the catheter does not suffer from a loss of quality during its shelf life and a wetting medium are provided. The method comprises: placing a catheter with an inactivated hydrophilic outer surface at least along its insertable length and a wetting medium in a catheter package; treating the catheter package with the catheter and the wetting medium with electro-magnetic and/or particle radiation while at least initially the hydrophilic outer surface at least along the insertable length of the catheter remains inactivated; and activating the hydrophilic outer surface at least along the insertable length of the catheter with the wetting medium during and/or after the radiation treatment and wherein the wetting medium decreases in viscosity when submitted to electro-magnetic and/or particle radiation.

The invention comprises self-lubricating polymer compositions that are especially useful in medical devices and valves and gaskets of medical devices. In a preferred embodiment, the polymer compositions comprise a thermosetting or thermoplastic silicone elastomer in combination with a lubricity enhancing polyfluoropolyether fluid or hydrocarbon-based synthetic oil. In other preferred embodiments, the polymer compositions contain only biocompatible components. The improved anti-friction properties of the self-lubricating polymers can be demonstrated over a course of insertion and withdrawal cycles, where conventional polymers have changing and mostly increasing force required for each insertion and withdrawal, while the polymer compositions of the invention remain stable.