Apparatus for manufacturing small diameter medical devices

摘要

An apparatus and method for manufacturing small diameter ultrasonic probes capable of vibrating in a transverse mode that can be used in ultrasonic tissue ablation. The apparatus includes a die, a style puller which is used to engage a functional end of the medical device, and a die room puller which is used to draw the medical device through the die. The die includes a bell-shaped lead-in on a front side of the die and a bell-shaped lead-in on a back side of the die allowing for reversal of the direction of the draw. The method of manufacturing includes heat treating a large diameter medical device, drawing the large diameter device through a die and reversing the draw of the medical device through the die to provide a medical device having a varying diameter along a length of the device. The method is repeated until a final diameter is reached.