The first patient in Japan has been treated with Abbott ($ABT) Vascular's ABSORB bioresorbable vascular scaffold (BVS), which restores blood flow by opening a clogged vessel. The BVS also provides support until it dissolves within approximately two years, leaving patients with a treated vessel free of a permanent metallic implant.
Abbott's BVS is made of polylactide, which is commonly used in such medical implants as dissolving sutures. And because a permanent metallic implant is not left behind, a vessel may ultimately have the ability to move, flex, pulsate and dilate.
The ABSORB EXTEND trial is enrolling patients with complex coronary artery disease. Key endpoints of the study include assessments of safety--major adverse cardiac events and treated-site thrombosis rates--at 30 days and at 6, 12, 24 and 36 months, as well as an assessment of the acute performance of the bioresorbable vascular scaffold. The study is now enrolling patients in nearly 20 countries in Europe, Latin America and the Asia-Pacific.
The device received CE Mark approval for the treatment of coronary artery disease and is under clinical investigation in several other countries.
- get more from the Abbott statement
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