Healthcare Industry News: XTENT
News Release - February 17, 2006
Xtent's Drug-Eluting Stent Technology Witnessed Live During Prominent Interventional Meeting in Rome, Italy
ROME--(HSMN NewsFeed)--Feb. 17, 2006--From the Joint Interventional Meeting, one of today's premiere interventional cardiology meetings, XTENT, Inc., developer of next generation drug-eluting stent systems, announced multiple first-ever live coronary technology demonstrations. Both procedures were performed by Professor Eberhard Grube via live telecast from The Siegburg Heart Center in Siegburg, Germany.In a second procedure videocast live to JIM from Siegburg on February 17, a single XTENT catheter was used to deploy two separate stents to cover two separate lesions, each of different length, again without withdrawing the catheter from the coronary vessels. After covering the first lesion, the catheter was repositioned, while remaining inside the coronary arterial system, to a second lesion, where it was used to place a second tailored stent. The XTENT system enabled the physician to customize each stent to the size of each lesion treated. Conventional stent deployment practice, by contrast, requires the cardiologist to exit the body entirely and re-enter again with an entirely new catheter system to place each additional stent. Although XTENT's customizable, multi-deployment capability has been used earlier, the JIM videocast offered the first public demonstration of the system's efficacy.
Prof. Eberhard Grube, M.D., Chief of Cardiology at the Siegburg Heart Center, who performed both procedures, noted: "The XTENT system deploys in a straightforward, easy-to-use manner. It promises to greatly simplify our management of more complex coronary cases." Professor Grube has been Principal Investor for both XTENT Custom I trial of which enrollment was completed in July 2005 and its Custom II trial which began in December 2005. The Custom I trial was designed to demonstrate the XTENT system's capability of customizing stent length to treat single lesions. The Custom II trial, which included the procedures videocast live to JIM, is designed to apply the XTENT system to longer lesions and more complex, multi-lesion cases.
In the deployment of the 60 mm stent, Dr. Grube treated a very long lesion in a diffusely-diseased right coronary artery. After customizing the stent length to the lesion, Dr. Grube used the device to shorten the balloon and post-dilate the proximal portion of the stent to ensure that the stent was optimally apposed to the vessel wall. This contrasts with standard procedure where the cardiologist must first exit the artery and then return with a separate balloon catheter to complete the post-dilation process.
During the multi-vessel case today, Professor Grube first advanced the XTENT DES System in the circumflex artery while commenting on the excellent deliverability of the system. After tailoring a total of 28 mm of stent to treat the small circumflex vessel, he slightly withdrew the device and tracked it into the much larger proximal left anterior descending artery for treatment with another customized delivery of stent. In this last delivery, a total of 16 mm was used to treat the patient's blockage.
Greg Casciaro, CEO of XTENT, expressed his gratification at the first public demonstrations of a full XTENT system deployment. "We are delighted that such a distinguished audience was able to witness the XTENT system in action. The strong positive reaction from some of the world's leading cardiologists to Professor Grube's two demonstrations tells us that we are on track to provide a truly disruptive advance in the art of stent placement."
About XTENT
Xtent is a privately held developer of next generation drug-eluting stent systems designed for the treatment of real-world patients, those with complex, multi-vessel, and multi-lesion coronary and peripheral vascular disease. Based in Menlo Park, California, the company is funded by leading venture capital firms including Advanced Technology Ventures, Latterell Venture Partners, Morgenthaler Ventures, and Split Rock Partners.
Source: Xtent
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