caa a22 4500 475791339 CHVBK 20180406123711.0 cr unu---uuuuu 170329e20000201xx s 000 0 eng 10.1023/A:1006310612175 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1023/A:1006310612175 Mechanical properties and imaging characteristics of remanufactured intravascular ultrasound catheters [Elektronische Daten] [Rainer Hoffmann, Phillip Haager, Gary Mintz, Heinz Klues] Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) as a routine device in interventional cardiology is handicapped by its high price. 19 factory-made, ‘remanufactured' IVUS catheters which consist of sterilized, used phased-array IVUS transducers inserted into a new catheter shaft were compared with 23 new IVUS catheters. 3 mechanical and 4 imaging characteristics were assessed on a 5 point scale (1 = unacceptable, 5 = excellent). Mechanical as well as imaging properties of ‘remanufactured' IVUS catheter were comparable to new catheters with excellent ratings for each of the evaluated characteristics in 38 to 94% of ‘remanufactured' catheters and 50 to 96% of new catheters. The initial failure rate for ‘remanufactured' IVUS catheters was 31.6% vs. 4.3% for new catheters (P < 0.05). Overall failure rate was 47.3% for "remanufactured” catheters vs. 8.7% for new catheters (P < 0.05). The failure was due to an electronic connecting problem occurring during mechanical stress to the IVUS catheter. In conclusion, ‘remanufactured' IVUS catheters offer mechanical and imaging characteristics which are comparable to new catheters. Improvements in the ‘remanufacturing' process to resolve the high rate of electronic connecting problems may make this a promising approach to substantially lower the price of IVUS catheters. Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2000 intravascular ultrasound nationallicence remanufacturing process nationallicence Hoffmann Rainer Medical Clinic I, University RWTH Aachen, FRG, USA aut Haager Phillip Medical Clinic I, University RWTH Aachen, FRG, USA aut Mintz Gary Washington Hospital Center, Washington, DC, USA aut Klues Heinz Medical Clinic I, University RWTH Aachen, FRG, USA aut The International Journal of Cardiac Imaging Kluwer Academic Publishers 16/1(2000-02-01), 23-27 0167-9899 16:1<23 2000 16 10554 https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006310612175 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006310612175 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Hoffmann Rainer Medical Clinic I, University RWTH Aachen, FRG, USA aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Haager Phillip Medical Clinic I, University RWTH Aachen, FRG, USA aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Mintz Gary Washington Hospital Center, Washington, DC, USA aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Klues Heinz Medical Clinic I, University RWTH Aachen, FRG, USA aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- The International Journal of Cardiac Imaging Kluwer Academic Publishers 16/1(2000-02-01), 23-27 0167-9899 16:1<23 2000 16 10554 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer