Combination Polypectomy Snare Reduces Need for Device Exchange

A hybrid hot/cold snare with a unique hexagonal shape provides optimal flexibility and stiffness for accurate placement on tissue, and precise cutting ability.

The Olympus Medical (Olympus; Tokyo, Japan) SnareMaster Plus allows for precise manipulation and control when capturing polyps, while maintaining an appropriate margin of normal tissue required during cold snare polypectomy. The thin (0.3 mm) coated wire design retains loop stability and shape, even after multiple cuts, maintaining an optimal stiffness that facilitates clean, sharp, cold cutting. The device also provides 2-in-1 hot and cold polypectomy options, reducing the need for two separate snares, and is available in both 10 and 15mm sizes to meet various clinical needs.

“As the company that brought polypectomy to the fore as a viable approach, we are pleased to come full circle with a hybrid snare that provides clinical, cost, and time-savings benefits to the procedure room,” said Kurt Heine, group vice president at Olympus America. “Adding a cold snare is important to the SnareMaster portfolio, because cold snaring can potentially lead to fewer post-polypectomy complications. SnareMaster Plus is being made available to customers immediately.”

“In our practice, up to 80% of polyps can be removed with a cold snare. The Olympus SnareMaster Plus has excellent characteristics that enable clean resection margins with excellent cutting capabilities. The Olympus SnareMaster Plus is a significant step forward in the care of GI patients,” said Paul A. Akerman, MD, of University Gastroenterology (Providence, RI, USA).

Colonoscopic polypectomy involves the removal of any polyp lesion--hyperplastic, adenomatous, villous adenoma, or polypoid (lymphoid hyperplasia)--by colonoscopy. The polyps can be small, large, sessile (flat), or pedunculated, growing on stalks like mushrooms. Small polyps (i.e., less than 5 mm) can be removed by biopsy forceps, but larger one requires a snare for removal, with any remaining tissue or stalk cauterized.

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