Gore's C3 Delivery System for Excluder AAA Endoprosthesis Launched in Europe

September 16, 2010—W. L. Gore & Associates (Flagstaff, AZ) announced the first clinical uses of its C3 delivery system to deploy the Excluder AAA endoprosthesis, designed for treating patients with abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs). The C3 delivery system is designed to provide added deployment control with the ability to reposition the Excluder device, and cannulation options with the ability to bring the contralateral gate to the contralateral guidewire. The company made the announcement at the European Society for Vascular Surgery annual meeting in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

According to Gore, the C3 delivery system provides a proven stent graft and new delivery options. The Excluder device features a low delivery profile and flexibility to facilitate access and passage through narrow and tortuous anatomies. Once delivered into the aorta, the C3 delivery system enables repositioning of the stent graft during the procedure, which can minimize complications that could occur if the graft were to be positioned incorrectly during the initial deployment. This gives interventionists a second or third opportunity to accurately place the stent graft relative to the patient's anatomy, the company noted.

Eric Verhoeven, MD, who performed the first AAA procedure with the C3, commented, “We specifically selected our initial patients with short or angulated necks, or with difficult iliac anatomy, to be able to use the graft to its full extent. In the four patients treated with the Gore C3 delivery system, we repositioned the graft twice for level and for rotational orientation to maximize the sealing zone in the aortic neck and facilitate cannulation of the contralateral limb. In the other two patients, repositioning was unnecessary because either the proximal position was perfect after the initial deployment or cannulation was immediately successful. However, having the option to reposition the Gore Excluder device enabled us to treat these challenging anatomies with added confidence during our initial deployment. Overall, the Gore C3 delivery system worked as it was designed and provided unparalleled control while remaining intuitive and easy to use.”