Bifurcation stent

From WikiCover

On July 18, 2007, Angiotech Pharmaceuticals and Boston Scientific announced the successful implantation of BSC's TAXUS Petal Bifurcation Paclitaxel-Eluting Stent System (TAXUS Petal Stent) in a patient in New Zealand, marking the beginning of the TAXUS PETAL I First Human Use (FHU) Trial.

The trial is designed to evaluate the safety of a dedicated bifurcation paclitaxel-eluting stent platform for the treatment of coronary artery disease. The procedure was performed by John Ormiston, M.D., at Auckland City Hospital in Auckland, New Zealand.

A significant percentage of coronary artery disease - as much as 30 percent - occurs at a bifurcation, where one artery branches into two smaller arteries (one being the continuation of the main branch and the other often referred to as the side branch). Bifurcations present a common location for the build-up of plaque and are particularly difficult to treat with currently available stents. Conventional coronary stents were designed to treat tubular arteries and are considered less than optimal for the y-shaped anatomy of a bifurcation. The TAXUS Petal Stent is designed specifically to treat both the main branch and the side branch of a bifurcation.

The TAXUS Petal Stent consists of a traditional drug-eluting stent with an innovative side structure (the Petal Strut) in the middle of the stent that opens into the side branch. The TAXUS Petal is designed to provide access, coverage and support to the critical areas of the bifurcation and uses a proprietary platinum chromium alloy. Platinum chromium is designed to offer an improvement over stainless steel and cobalt chromium, enabling even thinner struts, increased flexibility and improved radiopacity. The TAXUS Petal Stent is coated with the proven, market-leading combination of the Paclitaxel drug and Translute polymer.