Surface morphology of polyvinyl chloride and silicone elastomer umbilical artery catheters by scanning electron microscopy.

The surface features of a new silicone elastomer umbilical artery catheter have been defined by scanning electron microscopy and compared with those of a standard polyvinyl chloride catheter. Little difference was noted in the surfaces of the catheter materials themselves, but the radiopaque material used to render the catheters visible by x-ray resulted in a considerable difference in the overall smoothness. The polyvinyl chloride catheter's marker was in the form of a wide, rough band extending the length of the tubing whereas the marker particles of the silicone elastomer were dispersed, more uniform in size, and resulted in less overall irregularity of the surface.