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Vibe RX catheter integrates vascular imaging with balloon technology
The device offers cardiologists a balloon catheter and real-time IVUS in a single platform.
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An integrated device that provides balloon dilation therapy and intravascular ultrasound for cardiologists has recently received CE mark approval.
In addition to marketing approval in the EU, the first clinical cases using the Vibe RX Vascular Imaging Balloon Catheter (Volcano Corp.) have also been completed. A single Vibe RX Catheter can quickly access, prepare and assess lesions, while the IVUS guidance provides targeted balloon dilatation with immediate confirmation of interventional results.
“I have used the unique Vibe device in about five patients, and it was easy and intuitive to use. Not surprisingly, we have not had any complications,” John Ormiston, MBChB, medical director at Mercy Angiography in Auckland, New Zealand, told Cardiology Today. “It is quick to use and has the potential, with device iterations, to save time by performing without catheter exchange the functions of assessment of stent deployment, performing post-dilatation then assessment of post-dilatation. We use the current device for predilatation and plaque assessment before stent deployment, then assessment of stent deployment.”
Eric Eeckhout, MD, PhD, director of interventional cardiology at Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois in Lausanne, Switzerland, said that first adopters of the technology will likely be centers that frequently use IVUS.
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Photo courtesy of: Volcano Corp. |
“This combination enables a doctor to pretreat the vessel with the balloon (before stenting) and use the IVUS technology to choose the most appropriate stent size and length to treat a particular lesion,” Eeckhout told Cardiology Today in an interview. “This combination would allow one to potentially skip a step in the pretreatment process, while ensuring optimal stent deployment.”
If approved and accepted in the United States, Ormiston said the catheter’s major role would be to assess the adequacy of stent deployment and then — immediately and without changing the catheter — perform post-dilatation.
“The adequacy of post-dilatation can then be immediately determined without catheter exchange,” he said. “In this way, assessment of adequacy of deployment, post-dilatation and adequacy of post-dilatation can be simply, easily and quickly carried out, saving time and potentially improving clinical outcomes. It may be more cost-effective than existing technologies, too.”
For the future, Ormiston said, “It is likely that this and similar other devices will be used for plaque and lesion assessment so that specific therapies can be targeted to the particular pathology.” – by Brian Ellis