Boc Health Care, Inc.

Ndh Medical, Inc.

Geary A Havran

Scott W Nicora

An extruder apparatus and method for producing an extruded tubing having varying inner dimensions without changing the outer dimensions. The tubing is forced from the die face of an extrusion head having an extruder die and an internal mandrel determining the outer and inner dimensions, respectively, of the extruded tubing. The outer dimensions of the mandrel varied by the user to change the inner dimensions of the extruded tubing. A pressure is maintained in the extruded tubing to prevent its collapse and that pressure is changed based upon the change of the external dimensions of the mandrel and the wall thickness of the tubing. In one embodiment, the mandrel is comprised of a core and a plurality of telescoping sleeves. Each sleeve is movable between a retracted position where the sleeve is displaced away from the die face and an extended position where sleeve is at the die face. There may be multiple mandrels in the case of multi-lumen catheters.

Apparatus for extruding tubing having a variable wall thickness

A combination of a protective tube and guidewire straightener used to locate a guidewire into a patient for introducing a catheter into a patient's bloodvessel. The guidewire straightener has a flexible end that flexes inwardly to lock the guidewire in a fixed position within the protective tube. The protective tube has an opening so that the guidewire straightener can be rotated by the user to align the flexible end with the opening to allow the flexible end to be released outwardly to unlock the guidewire so that it can move within the protective tube. A further opening in the shape of an elongated slot is formed in the protective tube and which allows the user to move the guidewire to advance or retract the guidewire from the protective tube. The positioning of the components are such that a user, by the manipulation of only one hand, can unlock the guidewire from it's fixed position and advance it into the patient, leaving the user's other hand free to carry out other operations.

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Tampa, FL, United States of America

Geary A Havran