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Boston Scientific launches Axios system for endoscopic management of pancreatitis complications
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Boston Scientific has launched the Axios Stent and Electrocautery Enhanced Delivery System for the endoscopic management of pancreatic pseudocysts and some types of walled-off pancreatic necrosis, according to a press release.
The system provides “a simpler and faster treatment option for patients,” Kenneth Binmoeller, MD, inventor of the Axios System from California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco, said in the press release. “We can now provide an endoscopic solution that provides immediate relief for these patients using one device in a single setting.”
During endoscopic ultrasound, the system’s electrocautery-enhanced catheter can be used to access a pancreatic fluid collection (PFC) and drain it by deploying a stent, which creates a temporary channel between the PFC and the GI tract. Leakage and migration risks are reduced by large flanges on each end of the lumen-apposing stent, which is MRI compatible, fully covered, self-expanding, and “the only removable metal stent in the U.S. indicated for PFC drainage.”
While surgery is an option for symptomatic PFCs, endoscopic management may be less invasive and reduce hospital stays and costs, according to the press release.
“In our practice, the Axios System has improved the endoscopic treatment of PFCs and walled off necrosis,” Todd Baron, MD, professor of medicine and director of advanced therapeutic endoscopy at University of North Carolina Hospital, Chapel Hill, said in the press release. “The delivery system has improved our procedural efficiency by reducing procedure time and patient exposure to X-ray imaging. In addition, we believe that the large diameter stent design is helping to reduce the cost of care by decreasing hospital length of stay and the number of interventions needed to manage this complex disease.”
Disclosure: Healio Gastroenterology was unable to confirm Baron’s relevant financial disclosures. Binmoeller is the inventor of the Axios System.