Adam Spence and Microspec Partner on Catheter Shafts

Adam Spence, a Spectrum Plastics Group Company and manufacturer of reinforced catheter shafts for vascular technologies, has entered a partnership with Microspec Corp., a manufacturer of tight-tolerance medical tubing, which will allow Adam Spence to offer reinforced catheter shafts with Microspec’s proprietary multi-durometer extrusions.
 
“This partnership between Adam Spence and Microspec is the coming together of two pioneering innovators in extrusion technology and braid reinforced catheter solutions. It bodes well for customers seeking to enhance performance while lowering costs,” said Steve Maxson, vice president of marketing and sales at Adam Spence
 
The most common method of constructing a catheter shaft, for example with four different discrete length sections of varying durometers, consists of laminating the four tubing sections together over the braided shaft in a re-flow process. For instance, 35D and 40D soft Pebax tubing for the distal segment and 55D and 72D stiffer Pebax tubing for the proximal segment.
 
“Microspec’s inline multi-durometer extrusion technology allows two alternating durometer sections to be joined continuously during the extrusion process ensuring gradual transition from one durometer to another,” Timothy Steele, founder and CEO of Microspec said. “The length of each section can be programed into the extrusion process per product specification.”
 
The combined distal and the combined proximal sections are then laminated together reducing the number of bond joints from three to one. “This process will increase productivity, reduce overall costs and improve the mechanically integrity of the catheter shaft”, William Li, senior catheter engineer at Adam Spence said.