Retrieval Baskets

It travels through a narrow catheter, opens at the target site, captures a stone or foreign body, and closes again during retrieval. This Nitinol retrieval basket looks simple. The engineering behind it is not.

The entire basket is formed from a single Nitinol wire that is laser cut into multiple segments, creating a continuous geometry without joints. This results in uniform mechanical behavior during both expansion and collapse.

At the distal end, the segments are finished with a precise welding bead. This small feature creates a smooth, rounded tip that reduces tissue interaction and prevents the basket from catching during retrieval.

The movement itself is defined by shape setting and Af setting. The basket expands at body temperature and collapses when constrained in a catheter, without hinges or mechanical linkages. Flexibility and retrieval force are determined by wire diameter, cut geometry, and heat treatment.

At MeKo, we combine Nitinol expertise, precision laser cutting, and micro welding to make these interactions predictable and reproducible from prototype to series production.

That’s what turns a simple wire into a functional medical device.