CHENNAI: Taking care of 100 per cent blocks (occlusion) in heart blood vessels (coronary arteries that supply oxygen and nutrients to the heart muscle) to allow blood to flow to the heart muscle (myocardium) has been made easy with the introduction of a new device - CrossBoss Catheter. The interventional cardiologists at Apollo Specialty Hospital, Vanagaram will soon treat patients with this new device.
The CrossBoss catheter, a flexible tube with a small balloon at the tip will be allowed to reach the blood vessel that has chronic total occlusion (CTO-100 per cent block), said Dr Anand Gnanaraj, senior consultant interventional cardiologist at the hospital.
With 10 to 20 per cent of patients suffering from coronary artery diseases having CTO, the new catheter and StingRay Balloon will help the doctors treat CTO precisely, said Dr K A Abraham, a Padma Shri awardee cardiologist and director of medical services at the hospital.
A guidewire will be passed through a main blood vessel in the groin region (the femoral artery) to reach the blocked vessel. Then the catheter will be inserted and a device called StingRay balloon used to get into the actual passageway of the occluded (blocked) blood vessel. Since the procedure is done with minimally invasive access, the post operative scar will be minimum and recovery quicker.
The catheter is made of stainless steel braid and has a rounded tip that can be rotated in any direction. This facilitates crossing the 100 per cent blocked vessel. The catheter can penetrate even through the tough lesions and can go behind the blocked segment and exit beyond the lesion, added Dr Gnanaraj.
Traditionally the blocks are cleared by bypass surgery (an open heart procedure in which a harvested vein from the leg is used to connect the left internal mammary artery to the good part of the coronary artery to enable smoother blood flow in the coronary arteries.