AngioScore Launches 100-mm AngioSculpt Scoring Balloons for BTK Treatment

January 25, 2013—AngioScore, Inc. (Fremont, CA) announced the launch of its 100-mm-length AngioSculpt percutaneous transluminal angioplasty scoring balloon catheters for the treatment of peripheral artery disease below the knee. These new AngioSculpt catheters received US Food and Drug Administration 510(k) clearance to market for the dilatation of lesions in the iliac, femoral, iliofemoral, popliteal, infrapopliteal, and renal arteries, as well as for the treatment of obstructive lesions of native or synthetic arteriovenous dialysis fistulae. They are not labeled for use in the coronary or neurovasculature, advised the company.

According to AngioSculpt, the catheters incorporate longer 100-mm scoring balloons in diameters of 2, 2.5, 3 and 3.5 mm. The catheters are expected to be particularly useful in treating complex lesions typically encountered in the treatment of patients with critical limb ischemia and infrapopliteal peripheral artery disease.

AngioScore advised that the AngioSculpt scoring balloon catheters feature nitinol scoring elements that provide circumferential scoring of plaque, leading to precise and predictable luminal enlargement across a wide range of lesion types while avoiding geographic miss with their antislippage properties.

In the company's press release, Thomas P. Davis, MD, commented: “These longer AngioSculpt scoring balloon catheters provide physicians with important new devices for the treatment of challenging lesions below the knee because of their ability to achieve more predictable luminal expansion and a very low rate of dissection, potentially minimizing the need to perform adjunctive stenting.” Dr. Davis is Director of the Cardiac Catheterization Lab and Director of Peripheral Interventions and Disease at St. John Hospital and Medical Center in Detroit, Michigan.