| abstract |
This invention relates to radioactively coated devices, preferably radioactively coated medical devices. These coated devices are characterized as having a low rate of leaching of the radioisotope from the surface of the coated device and a uniform radioactive coating, and are therefore suitable for use within biological systems. Coated medical devices are disclosed that are produced either by immersing the device within a solution containing a gamma, beta+, alpha, beta-, Ε (electron capture) emitting radioisotope, then exposing the immersed substrate to tuned vibrational cavitation, by electroless plating, or by electroplating a radioisotope onto a substrate of interest. The medical devices so produced are then baked at a temperature below the recrystallization temperature of the medical device. Medical devices as described herein exhibit very low rates of leaching of the coated radioisotope, and are suitable for use within medical applications, for example as stents, catheters, seeds, protheses, vavles, staples and other wound closure devices, where a localized therapeutic treatment is desired. |