Cryoplasty an Alternative for Critical Limb Ischemia

New research shows that people suffering from critical limb ischemia can be helped by a minimally invasive cryoplasty procedure, an alternative to below-the-knee amputation. The finding was reported at the Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics Scientific Symposium, held in Washington (DC, USA) in September 2004.

Early outcomes of the first patients to receive the therapy show that 95% were able to avoid almost-certain amputation below the knee by instead having treatment with the PolarCath system infrapopliteal catheter. This catheter uses the CryoPlasty technique to gently cool and revascularize arteries, a technique developed by Cryo Vascular Systems, Inc. (Los Gatos, CA, USA) and globally distributed by Boston Scientific, Inc. (Natick, MA, USA).

The PolarCath device treats clogged arteries by cooling them to –10o C with a balloon filled with liquid nitrous oxide. The gentle cooling of the plaque and artery wall weakens the plaque and promotes universal dilation and less vessel trauma, reducing vessel wall recoil and inducing apoptosis. The combination of these effects appears to minimize some of the complications that contribute to the reclogging of the vessels. A total of 20 patients were treated with the technique, while six patients underwent atherectomy to create a channel that would allow passage of the catheter. Limb salvage from amputation was achieved in 19 patients, with only one patient proceeding to below-the-knee amputation.

"The CryoPlasty procedure is a conservative ‘no harm' therapy that can be employed early in the disease process, and can be repeated if necessary without hindering future treatment options,” explained James Joye, D.O., director of the Cardiac Catheterization Lab at El Camino Hospital (Mountain View, CA, USA) and cofounder of the CryoPlasty technique.





Related Links:
Cryo Vascular Systems
Boston Scientific