Peripheral

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Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD) refers to diseases of blood vessels outside of the heart and brain affecting blood supply to our limbs and vital organs such as kidneys and the stomach. The most common of these diseases is atherosclerosis in which plaque accumulates in peripheral arteries limiting blood flow. Zeus provides dependable and quality solutions for peripheral medical technologies such as embolic protection devices to capture and remove debris that becomes dislodged during minimally invasive procedures to treat PAD.

Peripheral Artery Interventions

Angioplasty and stenting are the most effective and widely used treatments for PAD. The treatment of PAD facilitates the restoration of normal blood flow to and within the limbs where such diseases may cause serious health problems including amputations and death. As minimally invasive options, angioplasty and stent emplacement decrease recovery time and increase quality of life.

The prevalence of PAD endovascular treatments is driving the market to develop treatments to address stenosis in the lower extremities and abdominal aortic aneurysms. These challenges include utilizing polymer materials that encompass the ideal mechanical and biological characteristics for anatomical site access, compatibility, and treatment delivery.

Medical device companies look to Zeus to supply components for their introducers, catheters, guidewires, and crossing tools used by physicians in addition to implantable polymers for vascular prostheses. Our implantable scaffolds, stent coverings, and tubings meet these needs every day, and Zeus continues to advance new products for these areas.

For more information about our medical device components or other products and services, contact us or call toll-free today in the US 1-800-526-3842; internationally, you can reach us at +1-803-268-9500.

  • APPLICATIONS

    Catheter Components – Zeus manufactures nearly all of the components necessary for catheter design and use from support mandrels, polymer braiding for enhanced strength, jacketing material, and liner and covering material. Our components allow catheters to retain the preferred qualities such as torquability, distal end deflectability, pushability, and kink resistance. Zeus catheter components can be customized to provide maximum ease of use to insure your interventional devices travel smoothly to their destinations within the body.

    Implantable Vascular (Prosthetic) Grafts – For blood vessels that have become damaged or occluded, it may become necessary to replace or bypass such vessels. Vascular prosthetics have now become an option when harvesting patient blood vessels is not possible. Zeus makes implantable devices which are both biocompatible and provide extreme lubriciousness.

    Introducer Sheaths – These devices provide the means for getting your intervention where it is needed. For catheter and instrument introduction, our sheath construction components (including peel-away heat shrink and conventional tubing) provide lubricity and flexibility while maintaining small diameter size preferred for these devices.

    Stent Encapsulation – Zeus provides cutting-edge and highly customizable technologies as cover materials for a broad range of stent graft types and geometries.

    Wound Closure / Sutures – We offer monofilament and membranous polymer products which can be tailored to specific wound closure types. Our Aeos™ ePTFE suture monofilament, for example, can be swaged onto needles up to a 1:1 ratio and is available in bulk to create your own suture lines. These high-tensile products are breathable and provide excellent scaffolding material for tissue growth leading to faster recoveries.

  • PRODUCTS

    Catheter Liners – Typically made of etched PTFE or our Aeos™ ePTFE, these inner liners provide the utmost in lubricity, electrical performance, chemical resistance, and are UV sterilizable. Because of its extremely low coefficient of friction, PTFE liners allow the easiest access through the tortuous pathways of the body.

    Customized Tubing – We offer a wide range of fluoropolymers and specialized plastics with a history of success in medical device applications. For your catheter and other tubing 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 add a protective and tight jacket covering for joined catheter components or simply as an outer covering for the catheter itself. We offer heat shrink tubing in a range of polymer resins that can withstand high temperatures and contribute extremely high lubricity. This heat shrink is available in our FluoroPEELZ® peelable heat shrink and in traditional FEP.

    Jacketing – Catheter jackets are developed to provide additional structural support when added as layers during catheter construction and wall build-up. Removable jackets are also available that can be used to reflow the underlying polymer coating or jacketing material which covers the catheter braiding.

    Membranes – Our Aeos™ ePTFE is composed of a number of solid nodes that are interconnected by a matrix of very thin fibrils. Manipulation of these nodes creates a porous and breathable material with unique physical properties suitable for implantation.

    Multi-lumen Catheter Tubing – This tubing creates multiple passages through which multiple treatments or instruments can to directed towards the treatment site. These tubings are made with tight tolerances, unsurpassed capabilities, and superior quality standards. We can provide multi-lumen tubing with numerous specially customized passages in PFA, FEP, and our expanded PTFE (Aeos™ ePTFE).

    Non-metallic Braiding – Zeus drawn fiber and liquid crystal polymer (LCP) monofilament provide excellent alternatives to metal wire braid for applications that preclude the use of metals (such as MRI, etc.). These materials also provide added flexibility at the distal tip enhancing performance for steerable and deflectable guide catheters.

    Processing / Support Mandrels – A building block for catheter construction, this polymer core provides the central arbor around which catheters are made and support 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 which makes them ideal for use as mandrels with easy removal.

  • 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 developed for medical applications to 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™ – This and our other bioabsorbable polymer products safely exist in the body for controlled lengths of time before being absorbed without causing harm or adverse interactions. Zeus partners with our customers to develop and deliver these advanced polymers to meet precise degradation rates and specifications. We are able to extrude these biomaterials into high precision tubular geometries and perform full polymer characterization to meet regulatory requirements. 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; and structural heart, and tissue engineering. Aeos™ ePTFE has many of the same exceptional traits of PTFE but differs because it provides unique properties for applications requiring porosity.

    Bioweb Electrospun Nonwovens – Zeus Bioweb™ is a technology 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 for specialty filtration. Our processing allows us to create encapsulation technology, spin membrane/sheet, and develop 3-D structures for coating substrates of varying shapes and sizes.

    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. The material can be extruded 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).

    FluoroPEELZ® Peelable Fusing Sleeves – This innovative material simplifies catheter construction through this material’s ability to be easily peeled away from the outer shaft after reflow. This breakthrough product increases yields, improves worker safety, and reduces scrap. End users are finding that this replacement for conventional FEP and Polyolefin heat shrinks reduces their downstream processing while accelerating production.

    LCP – Liquid crystal polymer, or LCP, is a thermoplastic resin which exhibits unique properties. This material has 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.

    PEEK – Polyether ether ketone, or 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 torsional 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 an alternative option for braiding in catheters where metal may not be preferable (such as MRI, etc.). PEEK can likewise be used as an alternative to other materials such as glass. PEEK tubing is lightweight and able to withstand operating temperatures of 500 ºF (260 ºC). PEEK is biocompatible, tolerates high burst pressures, and possesses exceptional torsion stability. PEEK is also thermoformable and resistant to gamma radiation, wear, and impact.

    PEEKshrink™– Another advanced product from Zeus, this shrink-to-fit plastic provides a layer of protection for critical components that is particularly beneficial in medical applications. The polymer’s inherent purity and lubricity make it a prime choice for catheter componentry extending the life of the covered parts.

    Pebax® – This material (also known as PEBA, or polyether block amide) is used as a jacketing material for catheters providing structural support and strength while also allowing 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.

    PFA – Perfluoroalkoxy, or PFA, possesses excellent lubricity, clarity, flexibility, 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 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 is flame resistant with a UL 94 rating of V-0; it can also tolerate ETO, e-beam, and autoclave sterilizations making it well-suited to medical applications.

    PTFE – Polytetrafluoroethylene, or PTFE, is a highly lubricious material and the preferred material in many applications in the medical field. This material has the lowest coefficient of friction of any polymer, is biocompatible (USP Class VI approved), and easily tolerates ETO and autoclave sterilizations. 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.

    PTFE Sub-Lite-Wall® – This novel material 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 outside diameter (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.

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