Penumbra Launches Distal Delivery Catheters for Neurointerventions

February 4, 2013—Penumbra, Inc. (Alameda, CA) announced the launch of new distal delivery catheter (DDC) devices that are designed to simplify delivery of a wide variety of endovascular therapies to the brain. The Penumbra 5Max DDC and 4Max DDC devices are part of the company's DDC family of devices that provide distal delivery via a novel, advanced polymer and nitinol coil reinforcement design at the distal tip to enable easy tracking through tortuous vessels.

Penumbra introduced the new technology at the 3rd annual meeting of the Society of NeuroInterventional Surgery International Endovascular Stroke Conference and Joint Cerebrovascular Section of the American Academy of Neurological Surgeons and Congress of Neurological Surgeons in Honolulu, Hawaii.

In its press release, Penumbra states that all DDC catheters have large, tapered lumens, which are compatible with most microcatheter-delivered neuroendovascular therapies today. The DDC's tapered lumen design enables higher contrast flow and better visualization while maintaining the flexibility to help physicians deliver therapies more efficiently.

John M. Whapham, MD, performed one of the first DDC cases in the United States. Dr. Whapham is Medical Director of Stroke and Endovascular Neurosurgery at Mercy St. Vincent's Medical Center in Toledo, Ohio.

“The support provided by the 4Max DDC helped stabilize the tip of my coil-delivery catheter, enabling significantly more control over coil loops as I delivered and positioned them in a very challenging aneurysm,” commented Dr. Whapham in Penumbra's announcement. “The new 4Max DDC design tracked significantly more smoothly than currently available intermediate catheters, and thus may help reduce vessel trauma. Further, it provides the first practical delivery technology that combines guide-catheter-like support proximally, with microcatheter-like properties as it is navigated more distally.” Dr. Whapham added, “The DDC family will be my go-to catheter for a wide variety of patients and therapies, due to the ability to bring a stable catheter construct to even the most distal anatomy.”