The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 09, 2002
Filed:
Apr. 17, 2000
Marlene Schwarz, Newton, MA (US);
Kathleen Miller, Shrewsbury, MA (US);
Kalpana Kamath, Natick, MA (US);
Scimed Life Systems, Inc., Maple Grove, MN (US);
Abstract
Methods and apparatuses for coating medical devices and the devices thereby produced are disclosed. In one embodiment, the invention includes a method comprising the steps of suspending the medical device in an air stream and introducing a coating material into the air stream such that the coating material is dispersed therein and coats at least a portion of the medical device. In another embodiment, the medical devices are suspended in an air stream and a coating apparatus coats at least a portion of the medical device with a coating material. The coating apparatus may include a device that utilizes any number of alternative coating techniques for coating the medical devices. This process is used to apply one or more coating materials, simultaneously or in sequence. In certain embodiments of the invention, the coating materials include therapeutic agents, polymers, sugars, waxes, or fats. By using air suspensions to coat medical devices, the methods of the present invention result in coatings having minimal defects and uniform thicknesses and mechanical properties. Further, the methods of the present invention are time efficient and cost effective because they facilitate the coating of numerous medical devices in a single batch, resulting in numerous medical device units containing substantially the same coating.