Glass-fibre pultrusions as guide wire in minimally invasive surgery

Minimally invasive surgery is applied on an increasingly wider scale, as this way of operating is less invasive for the patient and usually leads to a quicker recovery. Guide wires are inserted in the vascular system up to the internal operation area. Over these guide wires, (larger or less flexible) tubes are guided that are necessary for the control and guiding of the operation tools (such as the camera, stents, suction tubes, forceps, scissors, coagulation equipment, needle feeders, etc.)

Traditional guide wires have a metal core. When these guide wires are inserted, X-ray technology is used to show where these guide wires are situated in the body. As the metal core of the current generation of guide wires is electrically conductive, they cannot be used in combination with MRI visualisation techniques. The use of modern MRI visualisation techniques (radio-wave based) often offers advantages compared to X-rays (better distinction between normal and abnormal tissue, radiation-free, can be used for more places in the body).

An on-going development is applying high-grade glass fibres in a new generation of guide wires. Glass-fibre reinforced guide wires are not conductive and therefore suitable for MRI visualisation (MRI compatible). The guide wires are extremely strong and can be bent to small radii without plastic deformation occurring.

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