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March 19, 2007 -- 9:25pm EDT "Fantastic Voyage" Redux
Today's CNN piece by Aaron Smith profiles two companies in the imaging field, one of which, Volcano Therapeutics, we also have written about. Intravascular Ultrasound or IVUS may have an important role assisting in the accurate placement of stents, and also in assessing, over time, whether the stents have maintained their position. While it's not a crew of physicians and scientists, like Donald Pleasance, Arthur Kennedy and, did we say, Raquel Welch(?) the tiny ultrasound camera on the tip of the Volcano catheter can act like a hi-tech security cam, sending back astounding color-coded images of the interior spaces of the coronary artery, and alerting the physician to potential blood clots and other problems -- something becoming more important in the era of concerns over late stent thrombosis with drug-eluting stents. The medical community thinks it's a valueable idea too. Sales for Volcano's system jumped 20% in the last quarter, and highly-regarded Milan-based cardiologist Dr. Antonio Colombo has stated that he will use IVUS for every stent placement he does. For more on IVUS, see our article on Angioplasty.Org. |
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In
August of 1964, Dotter appeared in LIFE Magazine (they went for the
mad scientist angle) and the idea of treating arterial blockages
from the inside out was publicized for the first time. Who's to say
sci-fi author