American first at the Montreal Heart Institute: A patient treated with a disappearing heart device

Montreal Heart Institute ^ | December 5, 2011

[decimon]

Montreal -- The interventional cardiology team at the Montreal Heart Institute (MHI) used the world's first drug eluting bioresorbable vascular scaffold to successfully treat a woman suffering from coronary artery disease. This landmark procedure was performed by Dr. Jean-François Tanguay, interventional cardiologist and coordinator of the Coronary Unit, as part of the ABSORB EXTEND clinical trial. This successful intervention was a first in North America.

A breakthrough that could change the lives of patients

The patient, a woman in her sixties, had suffered from chest pain for a number of months. She was diagnosed with a severe lesion to the heart main artery. She responded favorably to the procedure, was discharged after 24 hours and now, one month after, has regained a normal way of life with no more chest pain.

The investigational ABSORB bioresorbable vascular scaffold, developed by global healthcare company Abbott, is an innovative therapy that restores blood flow by opening a clogged vessel and providing support to the vessel while it heals. Once the vessel can remain open without the extra support, the bioresorbable scaffold is designed to be slowly metabolized until the device dissolves after approximately two years, leaving patients with a treated vessel free of a permanent metallic implant. With no metal left behind, the vessel has the potential to return to a more natural state. After the device has been metabolized, the patient's vessel is free to move, flex, pulsate and dilate similar to an untreated vessel.

[decimon]

Ping

[joe fonebone]

this is good news.....canada has it now, our own government will take about 15 years to approve it for use here ( and a coupla billion dollars for “research”)......

[Trillian]

Amazing.