How Medical Grade Fibers Are Going Micro

Whether it's computers, cardiovascular devices, or engineered polymers, tinier is the way to go these days. Add medical grade fibers to the list, too. 

Windsor, CA-based RxFiber in recent months released its lower-profile, high-tenacity polyester fibers that can be measured in the microns--selling the microfibers to undisclosed medical device companies developing increasingly small devices, says Rob Torgerson, president and founder of the 2-year-old company.

Whether it's endovascular stents or transcatheter heart valves, medical device companies are striving for lumens as small as 14 or 16 Fr, versus the previous 25, according to Torgerson, who is scheduled to speak at MD&M East, which runs June 9 through 12 in New York.

Device companies have been striving for smaller devices that will have longer durability, with fewer complications for patients.

"They want to maintain the durability of the device, and get thinner and thinner," Torgerson says.

And there is an obvious strategy when it comes to shrinking the devices: "The cross sectional area [of some applications]--50% is fabric. Where would you want to go first?" Torgerson says.

Much of RxFiber's work with developing the new low profile yarn involved fine-tuning the process of manufacturing the fibers in order to ensure that durability, elasticity, tenacity and strength was maintained as they became tinier.

"Our next generation material will be used to maintain the device longer," Torgerson says. Devices with greater longevity are needed for for patients that are increasingly living longer than the shelf life of their actual devices.

Torgerson declined to discuss exactly how RxFiber figured out how to produce smaller fibers. But he did say there was a challenge simply in the fact that the individual fibers, known as filaments, in the new process can only be seen with a magnifying glass.

"You need your reading glasses," he joked.

Torgerson compared the new material to a spider's web. It was difficult to create a controlled process to achieve the desired properties for the microfibers.

"You can't really see a spiders web, but you can feel it. And those are the kind of microfibers [we're] making," Torgerson says.

Chris Newmarker is senior editor of MPMN and Qmed. Follow him on Twitter at @newmarker.