InfraReDx Inc. announced that it enrolled the first patient into CANARY trials for its LipiScan coronary imaging guidance system, intended to help prevent heart attacks during stenting.
The Burlington, Mass.-based LipiScan IVUS combines intravascular ultrasound and near-infrared spectroscopy to help cardiologists identify coronary plaques and key structural features of lesions including location, length, degree of stenosis and plaque buildup during percutaneous coronary interventions.
"We will test the hypothesis that LipiScan IVUS, by detecting large lipid core plaques that are prone to embolization when dilated, can identify the subset of coronary patients in which a device designed to prevent distal embolization will be effective," said Dr. Gregg Stone, professor of medicine, director of cardiovascular research and education at the Center for Interventional Vascular Therapy at Columbia University Medical Center and principal investigator. "A positive result of CANARY will be a step forward in efforts to enhance the safety of coronary stenting."
About 10 percent of patients undergoing PCI treatment experience a heart attack during stenting, according to the release, and there is considerable evidence that the heart attacks are caused by the balloons breaking up lipid core plaques in the arteries that are then carried downstream where they block smaller arteries. The LipiScan devices proposes to detect lipid core plaques most likely to cause this problem, providing cardiologists with the option to use a protection filter during the stenting process.
