Medtronic launches new medical device for thoracic aortic aneurysms

Medtronic has announced the US market launch of the Talent Thoracic Stent Graft on the Xcelerant Delivery System, which it states makes minimally-invasive treatment of thoracic aneurysms easier to perform.

The company explains thoracic endovascular aortic repair (Tevar) is a procedure in which a stent graft is threaded through the femoral artery and then expanded at the site of the aneurysm.

After being put in place, the stent graft creates a new path for blood to flow through, reducing pressure on the aneurysm and lowering the risk of rupture.

The alternative to Tevar is open surgical repair.

Dr. Karthikeshwar Kasirajan, a vascular surgeon and professor at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia is one of the first physicians to have used the system to implant a graft.

Commenting, he said: “This combination of a proven stent graft and an advanced delivery system marks a major step forward for the minimally invasive treatment of thoracic aortic aneurysms.”

Dr Kasirajan continues to state the system facilitates stent graft deployment and delivery with greater control and ease, especially through narrow vessels.

In recent days, Medtronic announced that more than 500,000 vertebral compression fractures have been treated with Kyphon Balloon Kyphoplasty since the procedure was commercialised in 2000.