Cardiologists call for innovation

In a study released today by

, leading cardiologists from the

and

call for greater innovation in the design of hypotubes, which are used in percutaneous coronary interventional (PCI) procedures.

Over five million diagnostic and therapeutic interventional cardiology procedures were performed in the US alone in 2004, creating a $5 billion market in corresponding product sales, which is projected to grow to $6.4 billion in the US by 2009. Today’s study concluded that in particular, improved kink resistance in the hypotubes is needed, and will vastly benefit both the cardiologist and the patient by saving surgeon time and reducing patient risks and recovery time.

The study was completed at the end of 2005 following in-depth interviews with cardiologists in the USA, Germany and the UK. All cardiologists involved in the study indicated that catheter delivery systems are the first key step in successful stent treatment, as delivery systems are what enable stents to arrive at the target lesion. While cardiologists are generally satisfied with current delivery systems, they expressed the need for improvements to hypotube kink performance, since an immense amount of force has to be exerted on the proximal end of the catheter when negotiating tortuous anatomy or inaccessible lesions.