Silicone elastomer has been the standard by which other catheter materials have been judged. In the past ten years, technical advances in polymer research have provided the medical manufacturer with a wide variety of new materials for catheter manufacture. Thermoplastic polyurethane has shown great promise as an alternative to silicone for vascular catheters. This article examines the basic properties of the two materials and describes the findings in the literature that show comparable biocompatibility properties for both materials.