CI Medical's Break-Through Technology

CI Medical Inc., specialist in medical imprinting technology, now offers an exclusive Radiopaque ink marking system which enables adhesion to implantable silicone medical devices.

Historically, most materials bond poorly to silicone due to the low surface energy of the elastomer. This is further exacerbated when Radiopaque fillers developed by CI Medical are added to the base ink material to provide radio opacity. To address this challenge, CI Medical developed a Radiopaque ink which uses a NuSil Technology formulated heat curable binder designed exclusively for them.

This binder, when combined with CI Medical’s proprietary Radiopaque ink formulation, not only adheres permanently to a device’s silicone surface, but also allows the silicone to retain its natural flexibility. This innovative new ink system provides the Radiopaque qualities which allow surgeons to track and/or “read” those devices after they have been implanted within a patient’s body. Coupled with fluoroscopy, Radiopaque ink provides surgeons complete visibility of marked medical device components implanted beneath the skin or deep within the body. Such “x-ray vision” may be required by surgeons for purposes such as proper device positioning and/or device identification. Implantable devices already utilizing Radiopaque ink technology by CI Medical include pacemakers and chemotherapy ports, as well as catheters. Additional applications include fabrics used in stenting and spinal procedures.

For more than five years, CI Medical, Inc. has been partnering with major medical OEM’s such as Boston Scientific, St. Jude Medical and Medtronic to customize medical devices requiring these advanced Radiopaque ink markings. Custom formulations of CI’s Radiopaque ink have been successfully developed for use on a broad list of substrate materials, including, most recently, silicone.

For more information on Radiopaque ink, visit http://www.cimedical.com/Inks/radiopaque-ink.html or contact Bruce Mahan, Engineering Manager, at (800) 666-4016. In addition, representatives from CI Medical will be at Booth #1971 at the Medical Device & Manufacturing (MD&M) tradeshow Feb. 8-10, 2011 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, CA.