Uptake Medical said today it launched a registry trial of its InterVapor system to investigate long-term clinical results in severe emphysema patients.
The InterVapor uses heated water vapor to reduce bronchoscopic lung volume in patients with heterogenous upper lobe emphysema, the company said.
“Until InterVapor, severe emphysema was typically treated either by requiring patients to undergo highly invasive open surgical lobectomy, or applying foreign material into their lungs. InterVapor offers a less-invasive, bronchoscopic approach that allows clinicians to limit treatment only to the discrete portions of a patient’s lung that have been targeted,” CEO King Nelson said in a press release.
Patients enrolled in the registry trial will be asked to return for follow-up visits to assess lung function and quality of life, the Tustin, Calif.-based company said.
“The progressive nature of emphysema dictates that we perform ongoing patient monitoring and intervention. InterVapor allows us to take a segmental approach to lung volume reduction, which is advantageous because we can perform subsequent procedures when warranted. It gives these patients therapeutic options not available in any other treatment modality,” Dr. Prof. Felix Herth of Heidelberg, Germany’s Thoraxklinik said in prepared remarks.
The company said 6-month data from its Step-Up randomized clinical trial indicated that patients experienced statistically significant improvements in both lung function and quality of life, as well.
In October, Uptake Medical said it’s InterVapor targeted vapor therapy system was used in the 1st-ever regional lung cancer tumor ablation procedure.
The patient treated with the system was diagnosed with colorectal cancer that metastasized to the lung. The procedure was performed by Dr. Arschang Valipour at Vienna’s Otto-Wagner-Spital Hospital, Tustin, Calif.-based Uptake said.
