Trojan horse technique The original balloon-expandable stents came from the manufacturer packaged in a small box. To use the stent, an appropriate balloon was selected, and the stent was hand-crimped onto the balloon by the operator. If not mounted properly, stents had the tendency to slip on the balloon when being advanced across a tight …
What is an Up and over sheath medical equipment? Sometimes called a Balkin sheath, an up-and-over sheath is a U-shaped sheath. It is designed to facilitate interventions in which arterial access is via one femoral artery and the lesion to be treated is in the contralateral extremity. A catheter and guidewire are placed into the …
What is a guiding catheter? A guiding catheter is a special type of catheter that does not taper at its tip to the diameter of the guidewire. This configuration allows the passage of devices of large diameter through the catheter. When used in this manner, a guiding catheter functions similarly to a long sheath. In …
What is a sheath in medical equipment? A sheath is a device that may be placed into a vessel at the site of percutaneous access. Sheaths permit rapid exchanges of guidewires and catheters while maintaining intravascular access. Sheaths are sized based on the diameter of the catheter or device that they allow to pass. A …
What is nitinol? Nitinol was developed by the U.S. Navy and stands for nickel titanium alloy. This metal is particularly useful for medical applications because it has thermal memory. This property allows stents to be made at a certain diameter, cooled, and then compressed onto a delivery system. When the stent is deployed at body …
How do woven Elgiloy and nitinol self expandable stents differ? Woven stents, such as the Wallstent, have several unique characteristics. They are very radiopaque and can be easily seen on fluoroscopy, even in obese patients. The stents are reconstrainable, meaning that they can be almost entirely deployed, recaptured, moved, and then redeployed in a different …
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What two materials are used to make self expandable stents? There are two broad categories of self-expandable stents: stents made from woven Elgiloy wires and stents laser-cut from nitinol tubes. Self-expandable stents exert a continuous outward force, resist deformation, and are preferable to balloon-expandable stents in regions potentially subject to external compressive forces. To ensure …
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