New Vascular Therapy for Clogged Leg Arteries

A balloon is filled with liquid nitrous oxide, which evaporates into a gas upon entering the balloon, causing it to dilate and cool to –10o C. The plaque clogging the artery cracks, causing a more uniform dilation of the blood vessel than occurs in standard angioplasty. The cooling also prompts apoptosis, which minimizes the growth of new tissue. Clogged leg arteries are a symptom of peripheral vascular disease. They can cause leg pain and be a warning sign of system-wide vascular disease, including coronary disease. The system that administers CryoPlasty, called PolarCath, has been cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The system was developed by CryoVascular Systems (Los Gatos, CA, USA; www.cryoinc.com).

"About 40% of patients treated with angioplasty or stenting need to be treated again, or revascularized, within a year,” said John R. Laird, M.D., assistant clinical professor of medicine at Georgetown University Medical Center (Washington, DC, USA). "The CryopPlasty revascularization rate is 15%, which is a significant improvement.”





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