Mark Crawford, Contributing Writer04.03.19
Extruded tubing and steel tubing are key components in medical devices today. Tubing applications continue to grow as medical device manufacturers (MDMs) create next-generation devices to improve a wide range of medical procedures. Medical instruments used in surgery today require more elaborate features and added functionality than they did in the past. As a result, product design and development have become more complex, including tubing components. The thermoplastic tubing market continues to expand due to the rapid growth of minimally invasive interventional therapies such as endovascular, cardiovascular, diagnostic, endoscopy, electrophysiology, structural heart, and other delivery systems. For example, such procedures often require catheters with multiple capabilities, such as sending electronic signals to smaller and harder-to-reach parts of the body.
According to a January 2019 report by Grand View Research, the value of the global medical plastic tubing market is expected to reach $11.95 billion by 2025 at a compound annual growth rate of 9.1 percent over the forecast period.1 The company predicts silicone polymers will be the fastest-growing segment, thanks to beneficial properties such as hydrophobicity, chemical resistance, and thermal stability. Silicone polymers are increasingly used in diagnostic guidewires, defibrillators, suture sleeves, and heart pumps.
“Silicone is being used in new and innovative ways in the medical device industry, such as overmolded tips, reinforced components, and novel extrusion profiles,” confirmed Paul Melnychuck, senior director of business development and innovation for Xeridiem Medical Devices, a Tucson, Ariz.-based supplier and a Spectrum Plastics Group company that manufactures silicone-based catheters and other components for medical devices.
Metal tubing is frequently used for the shafts of disposable and reusable medical instruments. OEMs want customized steel tubing with special properties for complex articulating instruments that enable easier access into the body during minimally invasive laparoscopic, endoscopic, and arthroscopic procedures. Making tubing components for these devices typically requires a variety of tubing technologies and processes to manipulate metals into different formations.
This article is featured in the MPO eBook "Traversing Tubing Technologies." Click here to download the eBook and finish reading this article.
According to a January 2019 report by Grand View Research, the value of the global medical plastic tubing market is expected to reach $11.95 billion by 2025 at a compound annual growth rate of 9.1 percent over the forecast period.1 The company predicts silicone polymers will be the fastest-growing segment, thanks to beneficial properties such as hydrophobicity, chemical resistance, and thermal stability. Silicone polymers are increasingly used in diagnostic guidewires, defibrillators, suture sleeves, and heart pumps.
“Silicone is being used in new and innovative ways in the medical device industry, such as overmolded tips, reinforced components, and novel extrusion profiles,” confirmed Paul Melnychuck, senior director of business development and innovation for Xeridiem Medical Devices, a Tucson, Ariz.-based supplier and a Spectrum Plastics Group company that manufactures silicone-based catheters and other components for medical devices.
Metal tubing is frequently used for the shafts of disposable and reusable medical instruments. OEMs want customized steel tubing with special properties for complex articulating instruments that enable easier access into the body during minimally invasive laparoscopic, endoscopic, and arthroscopic procedures. Making tubing components for these devices typically requires a variety of tubing technologies and processes to manipulate metals into different formations.
This article is featured in the MPO eBook "Traversing Tubing Technologies." Click here to download the eBook and finish reading this article.
