Visualization System facilitates cardiac surgical ablation.
Press Release Summary:
Used in conjunction with FLEX 10® surgical ablation probe, FLEXView(TM) System enables physicians to perform stand-alone ablation procedures in closed chest environment with direct visualization of procedure at all times. Surgeons can also perform unilateral ablation, minimizing invasiveness of procedure. Specialized routing and retrieval tools can cut overall procedure by 30 minutes or more.
Original Press Release:
Boston Scientific Announces Market Launch of the First Less-Invasive, Unilateral Visualization System for Cardiac Surgical Ablation
FLEXView(TM) System enables physicians to perform less-invasive cardiac surgical ablation procedures
NATICK, Mass., Sept. 19 /-- Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE:BSX) today announced the U.S. market launch of the FLEXView(TM) System for unilateral visualization and routing in microwave cardiac surgical ablation procedures. The technology was launched by Boston Scientific's Cardiac Surgery business, formerly part of Guidant, which the Company acquired in April 2006.
Microwave surgical ablation can be performed in combination with valve or coronary artery bypass surgeries or in minimally invasive, stand-alone procedures. The new FLEXView System enables physicians to perform stand-alone ablation procedures in a closed chest environment with direct visualization of the procedure at all times. Furthermore, the FLEXView System allows surgeons to perform a one-sided (unilateral) ablation procedure, thereby decreasing the invasiveness of the current procedure.
"With the launch of the FLEXView System, Boston Scientific has delivered a new generation of minimally invasive surgical technology," said Lisa Earnhardt, President of Boston Scientific's Cardiac Surgery business. "Patients should experience less pain, a faster recovery and fewer days in the hospital as a result of the innovative FLEXView System. We are pleased to be the first to offer physicians and patients the benefits of a streamlined, unilateral approach for this procedure."
"This truly less-invasive approach will help expand the referral basis and enable physicians to reach out to a greater percentage of the population who would benefit from this therapy," said Li Poa, M.D., Enloe Medical Center, Chico, CA. "The FLEXView System responds to technical challenges experienced by many surgeons."
"The future of cardiac surgical ablation will rest with minimally invasive approaches," commented Adam Saltman, M.D., Maimonides Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY. "The FLEXView System greatly simplifies the endoscopic approach and will encourage a much broader adoption of the procedure. It is a significant step forward."
Highlights of the FLEXView System include:
o The FLEXView System is the first system designed specifically for less-invasive, unilateral procedures. Patients should recover faster and with less pain than with procedures that require rib spreading.
o The FLEXView System is designed to provide a wide and clear view of the anatomy and the surgical site at all times during the closed chest procedure.
o The FLEXView System, which includes specialized routing and retrieval tools, may reduce overall procedure time by 30 minutes or more.
The FLEXView System is designed to be used in conjunction with the FLEX 10(R) surgical ablation probe in minimally invasive thoracoscopic cardiac ablation procedures. Microwave surgical ablation is used to apply focused microwave energy to cardiac tissue. The FLEX Microwave Surgical Ablation System, which consists of a microwave generator and probe, has been used in more than 1,300 stand-alone thoracoscopic ablation procedures and approximately 12,000 associated procedures.
Boston Scientific is a worldwide developer, manufacturer and marketer of medical devices whose products are used in a broad range of interventional medical specialties. For more information, please visit: http://www.bostonscientific.com/.
