A potentially life-saving solution to narrowing coronary arteries has been launched by B. BRAUN MEDICAL. The drug-delivering balloon, called SeQuent Please, is a new treatment option with significant benefits.
Unlike stent implantation, no foreign bodies remain in the artery with the new system, which can also reach narrowed areas that may not be accessible for stent treatment. SeQuent Please is associated with a significantly lower incidence or restenosis. In addition, the required length of treatment with platelet inhibiting drugs is much shorter after the new SeQuent Please, with a period of no longer than three months proving sufficient. This, in combination with lower re-intervention rates, will result in significant cost savings to the NHS. Unlike conventional balloon catheters, SeQuent Please releases a drug from the balloon surface into the surrounding wall. To enhance transfer of the drug to the vessel wall, the Paclitaxel is embedded in a bio-absorbable matrix. This technology delivers a clinically proven, sufficient dose of drug from the balloon surface to the vascular wall after a single shot, brief contact.
