Implants comprising electrically-responsive hydrogel are described. Systems to provide electricity to induce response in hydrogel-containing implants are described. Methods for utilizing said system and methods for utilizing said hydrogel-containing implants are described.

A portable hand-held medical device includes a body having a gun-type formation that includes a barrel. A guide wire device is housed in the body and is configured to advance and retract through the barrel. The guide wire device carries a bundled arrangement including a video system, an illumination system to support the video system, a fluid irrigation line, and a guide wire mechanism. The bundled arrangement is packaged as a unit in an insertion tube. The tip section of the insertion tube incorporates a camera, a light source, and a fluid irrigation port. A catheter is disposed at the end of the barrel, so that during operation the guide wire device passes through the catheter lumen. The combination guide wire device and catheter enter the urinary tract and perform a bladder evacuation process.

Materials, methods, and techniques herein relate to stents. More specifically, the instant disclosure relates to stents, such as catheters, for slow-release drug delivery of urological therapeutic agents.

The invention relates to a dissolution chamber (10) for use with a catheter for dissolving and preparing an aqueous solution of a water-soluble photosensitizing agent for installation into the bladder, e.g. for use in photodynamic diagnosis (PDD) or photodynamic therapy (PDT) of bladder cancer and to a method for preparing a liquid pharmaceutical preparation for delivery into a patient's bladder which includes the use of said dissolution chamber (10).

A dynamic pressure response drainage system including control logic configured to enable measuring of residual fluid disposed within the drainage lumen. The residual fluid volume is measured by detecting the magnitude of the dynamic pressure response in the system containing the residual fluid when a sudden displacement (e.g. increase or decrease) of air volume occurs inside the system. The pressure burst magnitude is related to the pressure needed to move the mass of fluid, thus the fluid volume can be calculated from measurements of the burst pressure. The magnitude of the measured air pressure exhibits a dynamic pressure response corresponding to the mass of fluid in the tube. Either positive or negative pressure bursts can be used to produce and measure the corresponding positive or negative dynamic response spike pressure.

Disclosed is a device (100). The device (100) comprising a catheter shaft (102) such that the catheter shaft (102) has one or more check eyelets (104) adapted to drip urine accumulated in a bladder of a user. The check eyelet (104) drips the urine when, upon insertion of the catheter shaft (102) in the bladder of the user, the check eyelet (104) reaches inside the bladder.

A guidewire, methods of manufacture, and methods of use is described. The guidewire may include a core having one or more preformed ribs along a portion thereof. The ribs may form a portion of the outer surface of the guidewire or form a texture or shape of the outer surface of the guidewire. The ribs and outer texture of the guidewire can beneficially help the guidewire remain in a desired location in a body and help prevent or limit migration. Forming the ribs on the outer surface of the core may enable the guidewire to have greater rigidity and stiffness. The core may include a reduced diameter region distal of the ribs. The guidewire may include a cap over the reduced diameter region of the core.

Ureteral catheters are provided including a drainage lumen including a distal portion configured to be positioned in a patient's kidney, renal pelvis and/or in the ureter adjacent to the renal pelvis for receiving fluid from a patient's kidney and a proximal portion for draining the fluid from the distal portion, the distal portion including a coiled retention portion including: at least a first coil having a first diameter; at least a second coil having a second diameter, the first diameter being less than the second diameter, the second coil being closer to an end of the distal portion of the drainage lumen than the first coil; and one or more perforations on a sidewall of the coiled retention portion of the distal portion of the drainage lumen for permitting fluid flow into the drainage lumen, wherein the proximal portion of the drainage lumen is essentially free of or free of perforations.

A catheter comprising: a shaft (1) having a proximal end (2) and a distal end (3), the distal end terminating in a tip (4); a drainage opening (7) located at the distal end of the shaft, the drainage opening communicating with a drainage lumen (8) of the shaft; a balloon located at the distal end of the shaft, the balloon comprising a first region secured to the shaft, a second region secured to the shaft and an elastic-walled conduit extending between the first region and the second region, the elastic conduit extending over the tip.

The present disclosure relates to a packaged urinary catheter assembly and method of making and using the packaged urinary catheter assembly. The urinary catheter assembly includes a urinary catheter having a proximal end and a distal end. The distal end includes at least one aperture for receiving fluid from a patient. The urinary catheter is contained within a sleeve having a length, a width, and a size configured to receive the catheter. According to one embodiment, the urinary catheter and the sleeve may be arranged in a helical coil. The outer surface of the urinary catheter may have a lubricious and/or an antimicrobial coating.