Cardiovascular

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Coronary artery disease (CAD) is caused by the accumulation of plaque on the inner walls of the arteries which supply blood to the heart. This deadly cardiovascular condition is treated with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI, commonly known as coronary angioplasty, or simply angioplasty). Devices used to treat CAD require extruded products that balance strength, flexibility, and precision to effectively maneuver catheters through the vasculature.

To address these needs in the cardiovascular market, Zeus manufactures ultra-thin extruded PTFE liners, multi durometer catheter jacketing, non-metallic braiding, user-friendly fusing sleeves, Absorv™ bioabsorbable extrusions, and electrospun Bioweb™ composites. Whether a manufacturing aid, catheter component, covered stent, or even an absorbable scaffold, we manufacture the products essential for successful PCI procedures to restore arterial blood flow.

We Empower Lifesaving Designs

Polymer extrusions are critical to the delivery of life-preserving diagnoses and treatments. From angiography, imaging, angioplasty, atherectomy, aspiration, embolics, stents, scaffolds and more, Zeus products have been at the forefront of the treatment of increasingly prevalent cardiovascular diseases.

To request samples or learn how our team can navigate your PCI intervention idea from prototype to production, contact us today or call toll-free in the US 1-800-526-3842; internationally, please call +1-803-268-9500.

  • APPLICATIONS

    Angiography (Diagnostic) – When visualization is of primary importance such as in angiography, our catheter components are chemically unreactive not only with the body but also with dyes used for contrast material. Zeus components are able to withstand a range of sterilization protocols to minimize the risk of catheter-associated infections.

    Angioplasty – Balloon catheter procedures focused on widening narrow biological passages have a variety of roles in health care. Whether for angioplasty, drug delivery, or stent and scaffold deployment, Zeus catheter componentry is continuously being improved to meet the evolving technological needs for the treatment of atherosclerosis.

    Atherectomy (Ablation) – For specialized applications where the atherosclerosis plaque has become calcified, these unique catheter assemblies require optimized flexibility and control. Zeus catheter components provide insulation, added wall strength, lubricious guide wire manipulation, tight tolerances, and greater pushability.

    Delivery Catheters – These devices are similar to guiding catheters in construction but are designed to pass through them to deliver treatments. These catheters deliver such state-of-the-art treatments as artificial heart valves to catheter-sized pacemakers using Zeus ultra-thin PTFE liners. These liners are the thinnest in the industry allowing a larger lumen or a reduced profile. Together with our non-metallic braid options such as LCP, multi-durometer jacket materials, and customized heat shrinks, our catheter components allow you the freedom to design your optimum next generation solution.

    Guiding Catheters – Constructed for strength and flexibility while minimizing the space required, this catheter design allows for safe passage of other devices and materials through it. These catheters use our ultra-thin PTFE liner on the inside diameter (ID) for an exceptionally lubricious working channel. This braided catheter is typically coated with a multi durometer outer jacket reflowed with our FEP heat shrink or FluoroPEELZ™ for easy navigation within the vasculature.

    Guide Wire Coverings – Available for a variety of purposes, these coverings can be tailored according to diameter, taper, and choice of fluoropolymer. These coverings provide high lubricity for smooth tracking in difficult anatomical spaces and at distal regions.

    Imaging – From angiograms to intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) to optical coherence tomography (OCT), Zeus catheter componentry improves the ability of imaging catheters to navigate tortuous anatomical spaces for proper image acquisition and characterization of plaque. Our drawn fiber and LCP monofilament products increase catheter stability and torque while enabling the capture of detailed geometries and electrical maps. Catheters made with our products enhance interventional planning, stent sizing, detection of stent strut malapposition, intimal dissection, neointimal growth, and in-stent thrombosis.

    Micro-Catheters – As technologies improve and implantable devices become smaller, physicians have the opportunity to deliver new solutions through minimally invasive devices that avoid costly surgery and lengthy recovery. While advancements have allowed these solutions to become smaller, the vasculature remains the same size. We have addressed these needs with our thinner, stronger, and more flexible extruded PTFE liners and catheter componentry to continue to deliver advanced lifesaving tools.

    PCI (Percutaneous Coronary Intervention) – Our products are conceived and created to support the critical demands of medical device industry. Whether a manufacturing aid or a permanent implant, Zeus manufacturers components with the thinnest walls, tightest tolerances and customized mechanical properties to provide your next life saving device the flexibility and strength for the most challenging anatomical locations.

  • PRODUCTS

    Bioabsorbable Scaffolds – Zeus’ Absorv™ bioabsorbable extrusions can safely exist in the body where they remain for controlled lengths of time until being safely absorbed. These synthetic polyester polymer products are typically made from PLLA, PGA, or PCL and provide an excellent alternative to traditional polymer tubing or metals. As biological scaffolds, Absorv™ products are especially amenable to tissue growth to speed healing. Absorv™ can be extruded in tubular geometries for use in the vasculature, as monofilament, and as sheets.

    Catheter Braiding – When metals cannot be used in certain critical procedures, Zeus offers drawn fibers available in PEEK as well as our liquid crystal polymer (LCP) monofilament as non-metallic and flexible alternatives to stainless steel braiding. These materials provide mechanic strength and reinforcement to the catheter while retaining preferred qualities such as pushability, torquability, and distal end deflectability. As non-metals, catheters made with PEEK or LCP braiding are MRI-compatible. PEEK drawn fiber and LCP are available in flat and rounded profiles.

    Catheter Liners – Typically made of etched PTFE or our Aeos™ ePTFE, these inner liners of catheters provide the utmost in lubricity, electrical performance, chemical resistance, and are UV sterilizable.

    Covered Stents – Zeus’ novel stent encapsulation technology provides a safe and biocompatible means for controlled implantation of stent devices. Our polymer coverings mimic the body’s extracellular matrix minimizing the potential for rejection. These products are available in various options of PTFE electrospun Bioweb™ composites for stent covering, media filtration, or implantation structures.

    Customized Tubing – Zeus offers a wide range of fluoropolymers and specialized plastics with a history of success in medical device applications. For your particular needs, we can provide custom etching, flaring, tipping, and prototype sampling with quick turnaround and complete technical support.

    Fusing Sleeves – Heat shrinkable fluoropolymer tubing provides an excellent way to reflow the underlying nylon or Pebax® jacketing material or add a protective and tight covering for insulation and abrasion resistance. We offer FEP heat shrink tubing and FluoroPEELZ™ peelable fusing sleeves which also contribute high lubricity to the finished device.

    Introducer Sheaths – These devices provide the means for getting your intervention where it is needed. Our sheath construction components provide high lubricity and superior performance while protecting the arteries of the patient. For sheath components, we provide extruded tubing available in PTFE, FEP, Pebax®, Nylons, and our FluoroPEELZ™ peelable heat shrink.

    Jacketing – Catheter jackets are designed to provide additional structural support and flexibility through different durometers along the length of the catheter. These jackets are reflowed over the catheter braiding using a fusing sleeve bonding the jacket to the underlying etched PTFE liner. After the fusing sleeve is removed, the cured jacket is smooth and free of pinhole and voids. Zeus offers nylon and Pebax® jacketing to meet these catheter construction needs.

    Processing / Support Mandrels – A building block for catheter construction, this polymer core provides the central arbor around which the catheter is made and supports the desired interior diameter (ID) of the catheter tubing. After construction, the mandrel is removed to produce the final ID. Our catheter fluoropolymer components are highly lubricious and are ideal for use as mandrels; these are available in PEEK and PTFE with others possible upon request.

  • MATERIALS

    Biomaterials – The emergence of biomaterials – substances or materials that can safely interact with the body – has become a driving force in medical innovation. Bioabsorbables are especially suitable for medical applications and provide an alternative to traditional polymers and metal components. Recognizing this need, Zeus has expanded our capabilities in multiple areas to develop the most advanced biomaterials in the industry.

    Absorv™ and our bioabsorbable polymer products safely exist in the body for controlled lengths of time before being absorbed without causing harm or adverse interactions. We partner with our customers to develop and deliver advanced polymers to meet their precise degradation rates and specifications. These FDA-approved products are available in multiple extrusion forms.

    Aeos™ ePTFE – These advanced products from Zeus feature microscopic pores in the structure of the material by expanding PTFE under exacting conditions. The resulting porous products are imparted with unique physical properties that make them ideal for use in medical devices such as endovascular stent grafts, suture-like devices, cosmetic implants, dental and glass ionomer uses, structural heart, and tissue engineering. Aeos™ ePTFE has many of the same exceptional attributes of PTFE, but differs because it provides unique properties for applications requiring porosity.

    Bioweb™ Electrospun Nonwovens – Zeus Bioweb™ is produced through electrospinning PTFE into polymeric fibers with extremely small thicknesses ranging from nano- to micro-scale. Together, these electrospun fibers form microporous materials with a broad range of properties. Similar to expanded PTFE, Bioweb™ has a lower basis weight but has comparable chemical and temperature resistance. Bioweb™ is used in medical and industrial applications for biological interactions or as specialty filtration media. Our process allows us to create encapsulation technology, spin membrane/sheet, and develop 3-D structures for coating substrates of varying shapes and sizes for within the body.

    ETFE – A copolymer of ethylene and tetrafluoroethylene, ETFE tubing affords excellent resistance to impact, abrasion, and stress cracking. ETFE possesses superior toughness, stiffness, and durability all while being chemically inert. This extruded material is available in multiple forms including flexible convoluted tubing. ETFE can operate in temperatures ranging from -238 °F (-150 °C) to 298 °F (148 °C), has low water absorption, and performs well with ETO, autoclave, and gamma sterilizations.

    FEP – Fluorinated ethylene propylene, or FEP, is a melt processable fluoropolymer which allows for long, continuous lengths and has several distinct advantages over PTFE. Applications where FEP tubing is preferred require more optical clarity and flexibility. In heat shrinkable form, FEP has a lower recovery temperature than PTFE, and FEP can be used to reflow softer underlying materials such as Pebax® for catheter jackets. This chemically inert material has low gas permeability, possesses an excellent UV transmission rating and dielectric strength; and is gamma, ETO, e-beam, and autoclave sterilizable. FEP can operate in sustained temperatures from -328 °F (-200 °C) to 399 °F (204°C).

    LCP – Liquid crystal polymers, or LCPs, are thermoplastic resins which exhibits unique properties. These materials have a host of desirable traits including exceptional mechanical strength, heat tolerance for autoclaving, and chemical inertness. Through Zeus’ innovative proprietary processing, we have developed an LCP monofilament fiber for use as catheter braiding. This material possesses excellent tensile strength and surpasses many similar monofilaments such as nylon, polyethylene naphthalate (PEN), and even polyether ether ketone (PEEK) in terms of stiffness. Most importantly, however, LCP monofilament used as catheter braiding results in a device that is fully compatible with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) procedures.

    Pebax® – This material (also known as PEBA, or polyether block amide) is used as a jacketing material for catheters to provide structural support and strength while also allowing the catheters to remain flexible. Pebax® is a versatile polymer whose properties can be easily altered by varying its monomeric ratios and block types thus imparting a wide range of mechanical properties such as flexibility. This material possesses high elastic memory and is stronger than Nylon 11. Pebax® is available in Shore D hardness ranges from 35 to 72.

    PEEK – Polyether ether ketone (PEEK) is a high performance fluoropolymer with excellent heat endurance and one of the highest strength-to-weight ratios of any thermoplastic. PEEK products are used in a variety of medical applications due to their columnar stiffness and torsion strength in very thin walls. PEEK can be sourced with IDs as small as 0.002″ (0.051 mm) and walls as thin as 0.0015″ (0.0381 mm) nominal. PEEK Drawn Fiber is used for braiding for hose reinforcement and similar applications. PEEK can likewise be used as an alternative to materials such as metal and glass. PEEK tubing is lightweight and able to withstand operating temperatures of 500 ºF (260 ºC). PEEK tolerates high burst pressures and possesses exceptional torsion stability. PEEK is also thermoformable and resistant to gamma radiation, wear, and impact.

    PFA – Perfluoroalkoxy, or PFA, possesses excellent lubricity, clarity, and chemical resistance making it highly versatile; it can be manufactured in a variety of extruded products including custom sizes, profiles, and multi-lumens. PFA is highly flexible, chemically resistant to all common solvents, possesses low gas permeability, and has ultra-low levels of ionic extractables. PFA retains its mechanical strength even at temperatures up to 500 °F (260 °C). PFA has a flame resistance rating of UL 94 V-0 and can tolerate ETO, e-beam, and autoclave sterilizations making it well-suited to medical applications.

    PTFE – Polytetrafluoroethylene, or PTFE, is highly lubricious and is the preferred material in many applications in the medical field. This material has the lowest coefficient of friction of any polymer and easily tolerates ETO and autoclave sterilizations. Our PTFE Sub-Lite-Wall™ is used for the lining of catheter IDs and allows easier access to difficult-to-reach body spaces. This material may be supplied etched on the OD to allow better bondability with other materials. PTFE Sub-Lite-Wall™ Heat Shrink improves the lubricity of wire guides over long lengths for use in endoscopy applications. PTFE’s working temperature range is -328 °F (-200 °C) to 500 °F (260 °C) and can be extruded in precision tolerances. This diverse polymer is available in a variety of forms including special profiles, monofilament, and multi-lumen for passing of wire guides, irrigation, steering cables, and more.

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