Lower-Profile Gore Viabahn Launched in Europe

January 19, 2011—At the Leipzig Interventional Course in Germany, Gore & Associates (Flagstaff, AZ) announced the European availability of the Gore Viabahn endoprosthesis on a lower-profile delivery system, which received CE Mark approval in late 2010.

According to the company, the Gore Viabahn device is designed to percutaneously treat peripheral artery disease by relining the native vessel. This next-generation stent graft enables a reduction in delivery profile to 6-F for 5- and 6-mm devices and 7-F for 7- and 8-mm devices. It is delivered over a 0.018- or 0.014-inch guidewire and is available in a 120-cm length.

Gore & Associates stated that the reduced delivery profile provides greater options for delivery with the same trackability and device performance in treating stenosis and occlusions of the superficial femoral artery (SFA) and other peripheral arteries where a small access size is critical.

The new Gore Viabahn device delivery catheter incorporates the company's Propaten bioactive surface, which uses endpoint immobilization of derivatized heparin to the endoprosthesis luminal surface. This technology preserves the heparin bioactive sites so they can interact with the blood at the device surface without being consumed. The Viabahn is constructed with a durable, reinforced, biocompatible, expanded-polytetrafluoroethylene liner attached to an external nitinol stent structure. The device's flexibility enables it to traverse tortuous areas of the SFA and peripheral arteries and conforms to these arteries and withstands complex mechanical motion, the company stated.