Expanded UHMWPE for guiding catheter liners and other lubricious coatings

摘要

An intraluminal catheter, such as a guiding catheter, employed for intravascular procedures and having an inner liner formed of expanded Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene (UHMWPE) is disclosed. The expanded UHMWPE is microporous and has an oriented microstructure structure characterized by nodes interconnected by fibrils. The inner liner formed of expanded UHMWPE is very thin to maximize the inner lumen diameter and has excellent mechanical properties.