Injection moulding of a catheter

1. A method for one-piece injection moulding of a soft needle catheter used together with an introducer needle comprising a hub and a tube-shaped flexible part, comprising the steps of:

feeding a molten polymer into a mould comprising a core defining a cavity comprising a hub cavity and a tube-shaped cavity, said core having a cone-shaped part and a cylindrical part forming the interior of the catheter;

removing the core from the catheter; and

removing the catheter from the mould;

wherein the cone-shaped part of the core forms at least a part of the hub cavity and extends into the tube-shaped cavity causing the interior of the tube-shaped flexible part to be at least partially cone shaped.

2. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the catheter is cured to its final state in the mould.

3. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the molten polymer is supplied to the mould via at least two inlets.

4. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the inlets are placed at the hub forming part of the mould.

5. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the mould separates along the axis of the tube-shaped part.

6. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the mould separates perpendicular to the tube-shaped part and at or just below the hub.

7. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the polymer is chosen from polyester ethers, styrene based TPE, olefin based TPE, urethane based TPE, ester based TPE, amid based TPE polyolefines and silicone rubbers.

8. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the polymer has a shore between 40 and 60D.

9. A method according to claim 1 , wherein a plurality of polymers are used.

10. The method of claim 3 , wherein the inlets are placed symmetrically around the axis of the core.