When Performance Meets Responsibility: Rethinking the Gold Standard in Medical Devices

A few weeks ago, we examined the USFDA’s recent statement on PFAS in medical devices and shared our perspective on what it could mean for the industry. In that article, we highlighted the FDA’s acknowledgment of the critical role that PTFE plays in medical devices today. PTFE has earned its reputation as the gold standard….

From Whisper to Wake-Up Call: PFAS and the Future of Medical Devices

A few years ago, five EU states – Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden – ignited conversations about restricting PFAS substances. While the early discussions were bold in scope, they initially drew limited attention and caused little disruption. But it didn’t take long before news of those conversations spread, raising real questions about how…

Simplifying steerable catheter assembly: a practical comparison of production techniques

By Kyle Degarady, Sr. Product Marketing Manager

For catheter designers today, creating effective and minimally invasive medical devices is imperative. Whether for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes, engineers are looking to design catheters that can navigate complex and tortuous vasculatures deep inside the human body. Steerable catheters offer a powerful solution to this challenge. With enhanced stability and increased control compared to non-steerable…

Exploring Insulating Varnish for PEEK Wire High Bond

By Benji Smith, Product Manager & Zeth Eberling, Sr. Materials Engineer

As the world continues to move towards electrification to support sustainable and green energy efforts, the performance requirements placed upon the electrical machines powering this revolution are rapidly increasing and becoming ever more demanding.  At the heart of any electrical machine lies a magnet wire; one of the most critical, if not the most critical,…

Enabling the next BRS revolution

By James M. Lindsey III, Senior Research Engineer

First conceived in the early 1990s, bioresorbable vascular scaffolds (BRS) were developed to provide temporary arterial mechanical support and anti-proliferative effects similar to permanent metallic drug-eluting stents (DES), but then completely resorb into the body after a finite period of time, returning the vessel to its normal state. While metallic stents were (and still are)…

How advances in extrusion technology can transform insulated wire

By Brian Tomblin, Vice President of Product Engineering

Typically, when thinking of insulated wire, the thought that comes to mind for many engineers will be a simple round conductor with a concentric round insulating layer. Perhaps more specifically, one may be envisioning a classic enameled magnet wire (Figure 1), produced from a solvent cast coating system in which the wire is first coated,…

From head to toe: the expanding reach of endovascular therapy

By Rodrigo Silva, Global Product Manager, Zeus.

As endovascular treatment expands to the far reaches of the body, catheter innovation must keep pace. Never before has the need for catheters with a multitude of properties and functions been so great.

Next generation catheters: The trends shaping the future of catheter design

By Matt Allen, Senior Product Manager

Following COMPAMED 2019 in Dusseldorf, Matt Allen, Zeus’ Senior Product Manager, discusses the challenges facing catheter design today. Here’s his take on the exciting advances overcoming current obstacles, plus innovations coming down the line and what that means for future treatments.

A review of differences in safety between fluoropolymers and non-polymerized forms of PFAS

At its core, the process of manufacturing polymeric products involves the conversion of a given resin into a desired form, typically using an extrusion process.  These resins, including PTFE, ETFE, FEP, and PFA, are supplied by resin manufacturers, and subsequently converted into their desired form by a polymeric product manufacturer, such as Zeus. Confusion surrounding…

The future of fiber optics: transforming data infrastructure with multi-function fiber optics

By Jason Fant, Global Fiber Optics Market Manager, Zeus

Walking around the ECOC exhibition in Dublin last week, I heard several exciting ideas regarding the future of fiber optics. None intrigued me more, however, than Verizon’s Market Focus presentation, which made a novel suggestion: that existing fiber infrastructure could be adapted to provide environmental monitoring and feedback on transport conditions.