NUST Institutions Library Catalogue

Cardiovascular diseases are a leading cause of death globally, accounting for approximately onethird of all deaths. The prevalence of coronary disease continues to rise, resulting in increased
mortality rates and escalating healthcare costs. The gold standard for diagnosing coronary
blockages and recommending therapeutic interventions is angiography. Currently, braided
reinforced shafts are the most common construction material for catheters used in angiographic
procedures. However, recent research has focused on the development of laser-cut reinforced
shaft catheters. The aim of this study was to assess the potential usage of laser-cut reinforced
shaft-based angiographic catheters for coronary angiographic procedures by analyzing their
design, performance, and behaviour.
The commercially available state-of-the-art angiographic catheters comprise of braidedreinforced shafts, while the laser-cut reinforced shaft technique has never been used to develop
angiographic catheters despite its potential to reduce the wall thickness and consequently the
profile of the catheters without compromising pushability and flexibility. Therefore, the
objective of this study was twofold: (I) designing and manufacturing a laser-cut metallic
reinforced shaft in a novel way and (II) configuring this novel laser-cut metallic shaft as a lasercut reinforced angiography catheter to improve the existing state-of-the-art (braided catheter) by
reducing profile (wall-thickness), enhancing flow rate, flexural and tensile strength, and
decreasing pushability force required. The developed laser-cut angiographic catheter (having an
outer diameter of 2.00 mm) has a wall thickness of 0.2 mm which is approximately 33% less
than that of the commercially available braided catheters (having a wall thickness of 0.3mm).
Furthermore, the pushability force analysis results prove that laser-cut reinforced shaft catheter
exerts a minimal resistive force (625g) which is approximately 1/3rd times less than that of the
braided catheter. Needless to mention that the novel Laser-cut catheter exhibits 2x more tensile
strength than the commercially available braided catheter. The fabrication route employed in this
study also increased the catheter's hydrophilicity (contact angle of 71.3°); as a result, an
additional hydrophilic coating is not required. The outcome of the comparative analysis, based
on the results obtained from the manufacturing route and bench testing, clearly shows that the
laser cutting method is an effective and rapid way of producing flexible, lower-profile reinforced
shaft. It is also established that the use of this method to produce flexible lower profile reinforced
shaft will overcome the problem of compromised radial strength during a diagnostic procedure
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and would help maintain continuous ovality throughout. Therefore, the developed laser-cut
reinforced catheter may potentially be used as the next state-of-the-art angiographic catheter after
further in vivo and clinical testing.