VANCOUVER, Sept. 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Neovasc Inc. (TSXV: NVC), a new specialty vascular device company comprised of the former Medical Ventures Corp., Neovasc Medical Ltd. and B-Balloon Ltd., today reported that leading physicians support expanding use of its Metricath(R) intravascular measurement device. Metricath is an arterial and in-stent measurement system that provides precise diameter and cross-sectional area measurements to aid in stent size selection and optimization. This unique tool was highlighted during the New Cardiovascular Horizons conference, the fourth largest cardiovascular conference in the nation.
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Metricath was used during several live cases presented via satellite to conference attendees and was also highlighted during a symposium presentation by Dr. Raed Aqel, Director of Interventional Cardiology at VA Birmingham, UAB General and Interventional Faculty. Physicians attending these events reported that they were "impressed" with Metricath's speed and precision.
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"Typically cardiovascular and endovascular physicians think they're pretty good at measuring vessels but we're often off by a significant amount," explained New Cardiovascular Horizons Co-Chairmen Dr. David Allie and Dr. Craig Walker during the live cases. "Metricath is a new tool that enables us to quickly and precisely take intravascular measurements without guesswork. Now I can look at accurate vessel sizing and tailor my therapy. This is changing the way we treat vessels and allows treatment to be more precise and sophisticated."
The conference brings together a wide range of physicians including interventional cardiologists, cardiac and vascular surgeons, interventional radiologists and cath lab technologists. The presentations highlighted the expanding use of Metricath to peripheral vascular applications.
Dr. Allie added, "Cardiologists have been treating coronary arteries with high precision for years and it's time we do the same in the peripheral vasculature."
The potential utility of Metricath in improving the accuracy of stent expansion was highlighted in the symposium presentation by Dr. Aqel that concluded, "In 90% of the renal interventions that I studied, which appeared acceptable based on angiography, Metricath revealed these stents were significantly under-deployed and required adjunct treatment based on the Metricath findings." Dr. Aqel's study, "Prevalence of Renal Artery Stenosis and the Use of a 3-Dimensional Balloon Catheter to Identify Underdeployed Stents" was also reported in the June 2008 issue of the Journal of Invasive Cardiology.
The New Cardiovascular Horizons conference was held September 10-13, 2008 in New Orleans. For more information, visit www.newcvhorizons.com
About Neovasc Inc.
Neovasc Inc. (formerly Medical Ventures Corp.), is a new specialty vascular device company that develops, manufactures and markets medical devices for the rapidly growing vascular and surgical marketplace. Neovasc is comprised of the former Medical Ventures, Neovasc Medical Ltd. and B-Balloon Ltd. The company's current products include, Metricath(R) for intravascular measurement and PeriPatch(TM) surgical tissue and staple line reinforcement products. Neovasc has a development pipeline of innovative new products, and provides contract medical device development and manufacturing services. For more information, visit: www.neovasc.com.
Statements contained herein that are not based on historical or current fact, including without limitation statements containing the words "anticipates," "believes," "may," "continues," "estimates," "expects," and "will" and words of similar import, constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that ma
