A venous access device includes a hub and a bifurcated cannula. The hub includes a bifurcated connecting arm, a blood sampling arm connected to the bifurcated connecting arm, a fluid transfer arm connected to the bifurcated connecting arm, a blood sampling channel and a fluid transfer channel. The blood sampling channel passes through the blood sampling arm and the bifurcated connecting arm. The fluid transfer channel passes through the fluid transfer arm and the bifurcated connecting arm. The bifurcated cannula is coupled to the bifurcated connecting arm and includes a blood sampling lumen having a blood sampling port, a fluid transfer lumen having a fluid transfer port, and a dividing member separating the blood sampling lumen from the fluid transfer lumen. The blood sampling port is 2 mm to 20 mm proximal from the fluid transfer port. The blood sampling channel is fluidly connected to the blood sampling lumen, and the fluid transfer channel is fluidly connected to the fluid transfer lumen.

An additive manufacturing system may include a heating cartridge defining an interior volume and at least one filament port. The system may include a heating element thermally coupled to the heating cartridge to heat the interior volume. The system may also include a filament handling system to feed at least one filament through the at least one filament port. The system may include a substrate handling system having at least a head stock. The system may include a controller configured to initiate or control movement of a substrate relative to the heating cartridge to apply a jacket to the substrate.

An introducer needle can include a needle shaft, a sheath over the needle shaft, and a needle hub around a proximal portion of each of the needle shaft and the sheath. The needle shaft can include a needle slot extending from the proximal portion of the needle shaft through a distal needle tip, which needle tip can include a bevel having a tip bevel and a heel. The needle shaft can include opposite needle-slot walls that either: a) face each other and are parallel or oblique to each other, or b) face toward or away from a bottom of the needle slot. Additionally or alternatively, opposite needle-shaft walls can be parallel to each other. The sheath over the needle shaft can seal the needle slot thereunder but for a sheath opening in a proximal portion of the sheath.

A method of making a flexible medical article or tube, for example, a sheath for a vascular access device, is provided. The method can include extruding a polymer, for example, a polycarbonate-urethane copolymer, to form a tube and annealing the extruded polymer. The method can further include cutting the extruded tube to a desired length before or after annealing, flaring one end of the annealed tube and over-molding the flared portion onto a hub, and forming the other end of the tube into a tip. A sheath formed by such a method is also provided.

A method for assembling a catheter is disclosed. The method includes printing conductive traces on at least one flexible substrate and encapsulating the at least one flexible substrate to provide for environmental protection. The at least one encapsulated flexible substrate is inserted into a shaft of a catheter. Then, connectors are attached to each end of the at least one encapsulated flexible substrate. One set of the connectors are further attached to sensors located at a distal end of the catheter and another set of the connectors are further attached to electronics in a handle of the catheter.

An example catheter assembly includes a first catheter body portion defining a first lumen and a plurality of sidewall openings open to the lumen and configured to at least one of introduce fluid into a patient or remove fluid from the patient. The catheter assembly further includes a second catheter body portion defining a second lumen, a first cuff proximal to a distal end of the first catheter body portion, a second cuff distal to a proximal end of the second catheter body portion, and a connector configured to mechanically connect the first and second catheter body portions between the first and second cuffs and to fluidically connect the first and second lumens. A distance between the first and second cuffs is modifiable by at least modifying one of a length of the first catheter body portion or a length of the second catheter body portion.

In some examples, a catheter includes an elongated body including a proximal portion and a distal portion. The elongated body includes an inner liner, an outer jacket, a structural support member positioned between at least a portion of the inner liner and at least a portion of the outer jacket, and an expandable member coupled to the structural support member at the distal portion of the elongated body. The expandable member may be configured to expand radially outward, e.g., to engage a clot within vasculature of a patient.

A catheter including one or more echogenic members facilitate guiding the catheter to a selected locations within a patient using ultrasound imaging. The echogenic members may include expandable members, such as balloons, be positioned near a distal end of the catheter. The echogenic members include an echogenic material, such as a coating or a fluid, that is configured to enhance the diffuse sound scattering of the echogenic member. An expanded echogenic member is detectable using ultrasound imaging.

Medical devices such as stents, stent grafts, and balloon catheters include a coating layer applied over a modified exterior surface of the medical device. The modified exterior surface comprises an exterior surface of the medical device subjected to a surface modification that decreases a surface free energy of the exterior surface before application of the coating layer an exterior surface. The coating layer comprises a hydrophobic therapeutic agent and at least one additive. The modified exterior surface may affect the release kinetics of the drug from the device, the crystallinity of the drug layer, the surface morphology of the coating and particle shape, or the particle size of drug of a therapeutic layer in the coating layer. For example, the effects caused by the modified exterior surface may increase the retention time and amount of therapeutic agent in tissue.

A coated urinary catheter or urinary stent device includes a urinary catheter or stent which, in a deployed position, includes or defines a protective surface area and a protected surface area and a coating upon at least a portion of the protective surface area. The coating includes a lubricant and an antimicrobial and/or pH buffering material. The device is configured such that, upon application of negative pressure to the catheter or stent, tissue of a urinary tract of a patient conforms or collapses onto the protective surface area and is thereby prevented or inhibited from occluding one or more protected drainage holes, ports or perforations of the catheter or stent.