A press release from CryoVascular Systems, Inc. is full of excitement:
An innovative new procedure that uses cooling therapy continues to show success in remedying difficult-to-treat blood vessel blockages, according to independent data presented by a Texas Heart Institute physician at the International Congress on Endovascular Intervention XVIII.
CryoPlasty therapy gently cools and opens arteries clogged with plaque due to peripheral arterial disease (PAD). PAD affects about 10 million people in the United States.
Many of the patients studied received CryoPlasty therapy after being treated with other methods and experiencing poor outcomes. The blockages that were treated occurred throughout the body, including the upper and lower legs, abdomen and upper body.
“Our early findings suggest the CryoPlasty technique is a simple, yet very effective therapy for treating a wide variety of PAD blockages,” said Zvonimir Krajcer, M.D., program director for the peripheral vascular program at Texas Heart Institute and St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital, Houston. “We had very good success treating the blockages with CryoPlasty therapy alone.”
Once introduced into the thrombus, the CryoPlasty balloon is filled with nitrous oxide gas (rather than saline solution) expanding the balloon. The gas gently cools the inside of the blood vessel, which weakens the plaque, opening up the blockage. CryoPlasty is an FDA-approved treatment for the peripheral vascular disease in infrapopliteal and tibioperoneal arteries (below the knee).
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