The FDA approved Medtronic‘s Pipeline Flex, a flow diversion device used to treat large and giant wide-necked brain aneurysms that are “not amenable to treatment with surgical clipping and are attached to parent vessels measuring between 2.5 and 5.0 mm in diameter,” according to the company. The Pipeline Flex works to redirect blood flow by being positioned right at base of the embolism, guiding blood flow along the length of the vessel.
The device was launched in Europe in the summer of last year, while the original version of the Pipeline has been approved in the U.S. since 2001. The Pipeline Flex comes with a new delivery system that promises greater control and a new level of accuracy during placement.
Here’s a video presenting the Pipeline embolization technology:
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