We claim:
1. An apparatus, comprising:
a stent; and
means for enhancing microwave radiation that is scattered from said stent, wherein said means produces a larger scattered microwave radiation field over that which would occur from said stent absent said means.
2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said means comprises a cylindrical symmetry variation in said stent.
3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said stent comprises a cylindrical axis, wherein said means comprises a gap along said cylindrical axis.
4. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a microwave transmitter for transmitting microwave radiation to said stent, wherein said stent produces scattered or reflected microwave radiation.
5. The apparatus of claim 4, further comprising a microwave receiver for receiving data comprising said scattered or reflected microwave radiation.
6. The apparatus of claim 5, further comprising computer hardware with software comprising an algorithm for analyzing said data to determine whether in-stent restenosis has occurred.
7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein said software further comprises an algorithm for analyzing said data to quantify the amount of in-stent restenosis that has occurred.
8. The apparatus of claim 3, further comprising dielectric material within said gap.
9. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein said stent comprises a stent cavity, said apparatus further comprising an electric shield to block electronic field penetration into said stent cavity.
10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said means comprises a dimension that is tuned to maximize the detection of in-stent restenosis.
11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said means comprises a dimension that is tuned for at least one microwave frequency.
12. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein said gap comprises a dimension that is tuned for at least one desired frequency.
13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said stent comprises a compact state with a first cross-sectional area and an expanded state with a second cross-sectional area that is greater than said first cross-sectional area.
14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said stent is selected from the group consisting of a cardiovascular stent, a neurovascular stent and a urological stent.
15. The apparatus of claim 6, further comprising an alarm, wherein said algorithm triggers said alarm if in-stent restenosis is present.
16. The apparatus of claim 7, further comprising an alarm, wherein said algorithm triggers said alarm if in-stent restenosis exceeds a pre-set level.
17. The apparatus of claim 7, further comprising an alarm, said apparatus further comprising a wireless transmitter operatively connected to said computer hardware, wherein said algorithm notifies a selected contact if in-stent restenosis exceeds a pre-set level.
18. An apparatus, comprising:
a stent; and
a microwave transmitter or microwave receiver operatively connected to said stent, wherein said microwave transmitter is configured for transmitting microwave radiation to said stent to produce scattered microwave radiation, and wherein said microwave receiver is configured for receiving data comprising microwave radiation scattered from said stent.
19. The apparatus of claim 18, further comprising computer hardware with software comprising an algorithm programmed to perform a task selected from the group consisting of (i) analyzing said data to determine whether in-stent restenosis has occurred and (ii) analyzing said data to quantify the amount of in-stent restenosis that has occurred.
20. The apparatus of claim 18, further comprising means for enhancing microwave radiation that is scattered or reflected from said stent, wherein said means produces a larger scattered or reflected microwave radiation field over that which would occur from said stent absent said means.
21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein said means comprises a cylindrical symmetry variation in said stent.
22. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein said stent comprises a cylindrical axis, wherein said means comprises a gap along said cylindrical axis.
23. The apparatus of claim 22, further comprising dielectric material within said gap.
24. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein said stent comprises a stent cavity, said apparatus further comprising an electric shield to block electronic field penetration into said stent cavity.
25. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein said means comprises a dimension that is tuned to maximize the detection of in-stent restenosis.
26. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein said means comprises a dimension that is tuned for at least one microwave frequency.
27. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein said gap comprises a dimension that is tuned for at least one desired frequency.
28. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein said stent comprises a compact state with a first cross-sectional area and an expanded state with a second cross-sectional area that is greater than said first cross-sectional area.
29. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein said stent is selected from the group consisting of a cardiovascular stent, a neurovascular stent and a urological stent.
30. The apparatus of claim 19, further comprising an alarm, wherein said algorithm triggers said alarm if in-stent restenosis is present.
31. The apparatus of claim 19, further comprising an alarm, wherein said algorithm triggers said alarm if in-stent restenosis exceeds a pre-set level.
32. The apparatus of claim 19, further comprising an alarm, said apparatus further comprising a wireless transmitter operatively connected to said computer hardware, wherein said algorithm notifies a selected contact if in-stent. restenosis exceeds a pre-set level.
33. An apparatus, comprising:
a computer readable medium; and
computer software programmed onto said computer readable medium, wherein said software comprises an algorithm programmed to perform a task selected from the group consisting of (i) analyzing data to determine whether in-stent restenosis has occurred and (ii) analyzing data to quantify the amount of in-stent restenosis that has occurred.
34. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein said algorithm is programmed to perform the task of analyzing data to determine whether in-stent restenosis has occurred, said algorithm comprises the steps of:
analyzing measurement of scattered signal as a function of microwave frequency to identify peaks; and
comparing peaks to previously measured baseline when no restenosis had occurred, wherein if the shifts in the peak locations exceed a predefined maximum then in-stent restenosis has occurred.
35. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein when said algorithm is programmed to perform the task of analyzing data to quantify the amount of in-stent restenosis that has occurred.
36. A method for detecting in-stent restenosis in a patient that has an implanted stent, comprising:
probing said stent with microwave radiation to produce reflected or scattered microwave radiation;
detecting and collecting said reflected or scattered microwave radiation to produce data; and
analyzing said data to determine whether in-stent restenosis has occurred.
37. A method for quantifying the amount of in-stent restenosis that has occurred in a stent implanted in a patient, comprising:
probing said stent with microwave radiation to produce reflected or scattered microwave radiation;
detecting and collecting said reflected or scattered microwave radiation to produce data; and
analyzing said data to quantify the amount of in-stent restenosis that has occurred in said stent.
38. The method of claim 37, wherein the microwave transmitter and receiver have a fixed relative position.
39. The method of claim 37, further comprising optimizing the signal levels of said reflected or scattered microwave radiation by moving at least one of a microwave transmitter or a receiver.
40. The method of claim 37, wherein said microwave radiation comprises less than 200 MHz to excite acoustic oscillations in said stent, wherein the step of detecting is carried out with an ultrasound transducer placed in contact with the skin to detect acoustic oscillations.
41. The method of claim 40, further comprising pulsing said radiation and wherein said step of detecting includes time gated ultrasound detection to increase signal to noise.
42. A method for preparing a patient for detection of in-stent restenosis, comprising implanting a stent within a patient, wherein said stent comprises means for enhancing microwave radiation that is scattered reflected from said stent, wherein said means produces a larger scattered or reflected microwave radiation field over that which would occur from said stent absent said means.
43. The apparatus of claim 3, further comprising a microwave diode within said gap.
44. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein said microwave transmitter and said microwave receiver operate over a frequency range of 0.1 to 50 GHz.
45. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein said microwave transmitter and said microwave receiver are polarization sensitive.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A flame-retardant polyamide molding material for sheathing optical waveguides and optical cables, characterized in that this polyamide molding material is composed of:
(A) 40 to 71 wt.-% copolyamide MACMI12;
(B) 20 to 51 wt.-% of at least one aliphatic polyamide;
(C) 6 to 20 wt.-% melamine cyanurate;
(D) 3 to 10 wt.-% aryl phosphate; and
(E) 0 to 6 wt.-% further additives;
wherein the components (A) to (E) add up to 100 wt.-% of the polyamide molding material,
wherein the copolyamide MACMI12 has a laurin lactam content of 23 to 45 mol-% in relation to the molar sum of the monomers MACM, isophthalic acid, and laurin lactam of this copolyamide, and
wherein the isophthalic acid in the copolyamide MACMI12 can be entirely or partially replaced by terephthalic acid.
2. The flame-retardant polyamide molding material according to claim 1, characterized in that a test specimen produced from this polyamide molding material has a Shore hardness D of at least 77, and a buckling test using a PA 12 extrudate coated with this molding material is passed upon winding around a metal rod having 12 mm diameter, wherein the PA 12 extrudate for this buckling test has a diameter of 1.5 mm and is coated 0.7 mm thick.
3. The flame-retardant polyamide molding material according to claim 1, characterized in that this polyamide molding material is composed of:
(A) 45 to 66 wt.-% copolyamide MACMI12;
(B) 20 to 46 wt.-% of at least one aliphatic polyamide;
(C) 8 to 15 wt.-% melamine cyanurate;
(D) 3 to 8 wt.-% aryl phosphate; and
(E) 0 to 4 wt.-% further additives;
wherein the components (A) to (E) add up to 100 wt.-% of the polyamide molding material.
4. The flame-retardant polyamide molding material according to claim 1, characterized in that a test specimen produced from this polyamide molding material at least has the classification V2 in the vertical fire test 50 W (20 mm) according to UL-94 of Underwriters Laboratories both at a thickness of 1.6 mm and also at a thickness of 0.8 mm.
5. The flame-retardant polyamide molding material according to claim 1, characterized in that the copolyamide MACMI12 has a laurin lactam content of 25-40 mol-%, preferably of 30-40 mol-%, in relation to the molar sum of the monomers MACM, isophthalic acid, and laurin lactam of this copolyamide.
6. The flame-retardant polyamide molding material according to claim 1, characterized in that the copolyamide MACMI12 has a glass transition temperature of 140-185\xb0 C., preferably of 150-170\xb0 C., particularly preferably of 155-165\xb0 C.
7. The flame-retardant polyamide molding material according to claim 1, characterized in that the at least one aliphatic polyamide of the component (B) is synthesized from linear-aliphatic monomers.
8. The flame-retardant polyamide molding material according to claim 7, characterized in that the at least one linear-aliphatic polyamide is selected from the group consisting of PA 6, PA 11, PA 12, PA 66, PA 69, PA 610, PA 612, PA 614, PA 618, PA 1010, PA 1012, PA 1212, PA 666, PA 612, PA 66612, polyether amides, polyether ester amides, polyester amides, copolyamides thereof and mixtures thereof.
9. The flame-retardant polyamide molding material according to claim 7, characterized in that the at least one linear-aliphatic polyamide is selected from the group consisting of PA 1010 and mixtures of PA 1010 with at least one other linear-aliphatic polyamide.
10. The flame-retardant polyamide molding material according to claim 1, characterized in that the aryl phosphate is selected from the group consisting of tricresyl phosphate, triphenyl phosphate, diphenyl cresyl phosphate, bis(methylphenyl)-phenyl phosphate and mixtures thereof.
11. The flame-retardant polyamide molding material according to claim 1, characterized in that the further additives are selected from the group consisting of inorganic stabilizers, organic stabilizers, lubricants, polytetrafluoroethylene, colorants, marking materials, inorganic pigments, organic pigments, IR absorbers, antistatic agents, antiblocking agents, nucleating agents, crystallization accelerators, crystallization delayers, conductivity additives, carbon black, graphite, carbon nanotubes, demolding agents, separating agents, optical lighteners, photochromic additives, softeners, adhesion promoters, anti-dripping agents, metallic pigments, metal glitters, metal-coated particles, and mixtures thereof.
12. The flame-retardant polyamide molding material according to claim 2, characterized in that a test specimen produced from this polyamide molding material has a Shore hardness in the range of 80-98, preferably in the range of 80-95.
13. The flame-retardant polyamide molding material according to claim 2, characterized in that a buckling test using a PA 12 extrudate coated with this molding material is passed in the case of winding around a metal rod having 10 mm diameter, preferably having 8 mm diameter.
14. A use of a flame-retardant polyamide molding material, in particular according to claim 1, which is composed of:
(A) 40 to 71 wt.-% copolyamide MACMI12;
(B) 20 to 51 wt.-% of at least one aliphatic polyamide;
(C) 6 to 20 wt.-% melamine cyanurate;
(D) 3 to 10 wt.-% aryl phosphate; and
(E) 0 to 6 wt.-% further additives;
wherein the components (A) to (E) add up to 100 wt.-% of the polyamide molding material,
wherein the copolyamide MACMI12 has a laurin lactam content of 23 to 45 mol-% in relation to the molar sum of the monomers MACM, isophthalic acid, and laurin lactam of this copolyamide, and
wherein the isophthalic acid in the copolyamide MACMI12 can be entirely or partially replaced by terephthalic acid, and
wherein a test specimen produced from this polyamide molding material has a Shore hardness D of at least 77, and a buckling test using a PA 12 extrudate coated with this molding material is passed upon winding around a metal rod having 12 mm diameter, wherein the PA 12 extrudate for this buckling test has a diameter of 1.5 mm and is coated 0.7 mm thick,
for producing an optical waveguide sheath or a sheath of an optical cable by means of a tubing sheath tool.
15. A use of a sheathed optical waveguide andor sheathed optical cable according to claim 14 for interior applications andor exterior applications, wherein sheaths made of such a polyamide molding material have a bite-inhibiting effect in relation to rodents.