Galway-based medical devices developer Crospon is launching a new imaging catheter for weight loss surgery applications at the SAGES 2011 conference in San Antonio, Texas, in the US.
Crospon was established in 2006 by John O’Dea (pictured) who had previously co-founded Caradyne, a respiratory products company that was acquired by Respironics in 2004.
The EF-620 catheter is the latest addition to the company’s EndoFLIP range and is designed to assist surgeons during sleeve gastrectomy and gastric imbrication procedures.
“Today’s launch represents a new application for EndoFLIP in the bariatric surgery market, one which complements the gastric band application for which the BF-325 catheter was launched at SAGES last year,” O’Dea said.
“Sleeve gastrectomy is one of the fastest-growing bariatric surgery procedures, and the EF-620 catheter is specifically purposed for these procedures. We are particularly excited about the application of the EF-620 for the emerging ‘gastric imbrication’ (or ‘gastric plication’) sleeve procedure. This procedure is growing in popularity on account of its relatively low cost, and for the fact that no implant is required, nor is any stomach required to be removed.”
Clearance from the US FDA
At the start of 2011, Crospon announced it had received clearance from the US Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) to market the new imaging catheter for the measurement of sleeves created during bariatric surgery. Development of the product was supported by a Wellcome Trust Strategic Translation Award.
Explaining the relevance of this procedure to EndoFLIP, O’Dea said: “Extra care has to be taken by the surgeon to ensure that the sleeve is not stitched too tightly. A challenge of the procedure is that the surgeon has very limited ability to gauge the size of the sleeve being created.
“EndoFLIP provides a unique capability to allow the surgeon to measure the inner diameter of the sleeve as it is being created. We believe that the ability to measure the sleeve size during this procedure will be essential to allow such sleeves to be created safely and consistently.”
Article courtesy of Bizstartup.ie
