Unblocking Arteries with the Excimer Laser System

A company called Spectranetics is revolutionising the way arteries are unblocked by allowing doctors to clear them with a high powered laser rather than using traditional stents or by-pass surgeries. While the procedure is not new, doctors around the world are now starting to perform it as they aquire the equipment. The technique is saving lives as well as limbs. Spectranetics offers the only Excimer Laser System approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for treatment of multiple cardiovascular diseases.

Engineer’s at Spectranetics discovered using concentrated ultraviolet light delivered from the Laser, in short, controlled, energy pulses by our own fiber-optic delivery devices could be a valuable medical device in removing build-up of arterial disease within the body.

The Spectranetics Laser System is an excimer laser because it utilizes a wavelength of 308 nanometers in the ultraviolet region of the light spectrum. The breakthrough was that this laser dissolves arterial plaque without harming healthy tissue which has always been a problem in the past. Excimer laser ablation vaporizes the obstruction in a safer, simpler fashion than other modalities.

People with Pheripheral Arterial Disease might notice pain in the limbs that often worsens with exercise. Those with severe blockages can have pain in their skin, muscles and bones, even while at rest. Non-healing wounds can quickly develop, especially in the feet, and can lead to loss of the limb if blood supply is not restored. Spectranetics reports the procedure has a 93 percent success rate in salvaging limbs. The Turbo Elite laser (pictureed above) utilize ultraviolet light to ablate blockages into particles most of which are smaller than a red blood cell.

For people with blockages around the heart, the Elsa Coronary Ablation Catheter is designed to reach and cross even the most difficult lesions including:

• Total Occlusions Traversable by a Guidewire
• Occluded Saphenous Vein Bypass Grafts
• Balloon Resistant Lesions
• Moderately Calcified Lesions
• In-Stent Restenosis Prior to Brachytherapy in 316L Stainless Steel Stents
• Ostial Lesions
• Long Lesions