Reprocessing of uni-directional Biosense Webster ablation catheters: a novel disassembly method: Extraction of the yielding parts and/or materials from the Thermocool Smarttouch SF Uni-directional ablation catheter

Annually, around 180,000 cardiac ablation procedures are performed as a result of people experiencing cardiac arrhythmia’s. During this ablation procedure, an ablation catheter is used to scar the problematic cardiac tissue after which the arrhythmia will stop. The ablation catheter is discarded after one single use. Incineration of these...

How to Close the Loop on Catheters: Exploring limitations and opportunities at the end-of-life of single-use catheters

While lives are saved through the use of medical devices; they have a significant negative impact on the environment. In particular single-use medical devices make up a large part of the healthcare sector’s negative environmental impact as they contribute significantly to generating more medical waste and greenhouse gas emissions. Approximately...