Flexibility of diagnostic catheters

The diagnostic catheter is an intravascular catheter, which is usually used to inject the contrast media and/or fluids to the body. The cardiovascular system contains tight angulations in the tortuous vessels which can cause device failure. In this study the flexibility of one diagnostic catheter was investigated according to the Food and Drug Administration’s recommendation. The catheter was bended around 16 gauges with different radius. The radius decreased from 10 mm to 2.5 mm in 0.5 increments. 9 bending points were selected on the diagnostic catheter: from 120 mm to 280 mm with 20 mm increments. The catheter was measured on all bending points. We concluded that between the diameter decrease and the deflection there is a linear dependency and they are independent from the placement of the measurement point (so from the distance measured from the tip).