Cardiologists at Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) on Friday used a Nitinol stent to tackle a block at a coronary junction. The self-expandable stent used on a patient, D. Rajaiah (52) is claimed to be the first time in Asia, it was said at a press conference in Hyderabad on Friday.
Nitinol is an alloy of Nickel and Titanium and the advantage is that the stent completely covers the ostium of side branch at coronary bifurcation. This stent simplifies the approach in dealing with coronary bifurcation, which is always a challenge for interventional cardiologists, said Dr. D. Seshagiri Rao, Head of Cardiology Department (NIMS).
In the traditional practice of implanting stents at coronary bifurcations, care had to be taken in ensuring apposition of main and side branches. In the process more hardware was used and a portion of Ostium remained open. But the Nitinol stent, developed by Cappella Medical Devices, is self-expanding and aids in continuous apposition of main and side branch, besides completely covering the ostium, explained Dr. Rao.
Already this stent was successfully used in over 2000 cases across Europe in the last three years and this was the first time it was being implanted in Asia, claimed John Vard, Senior R&D Engineer of Cappella Medical Devices.
The technique of implanting this innovative side branch stent in another 45-year-old patient was telecast from the NIMS cathlab by Dr. Rao and his team to the ACVS conference held at Hitex, Novotel.
