Abbott's Trek Coronary Dilatation Catheter has received European approval. The Trek system represents a new approach to balloon catheter design and provides physicians with an option for treating challenging lesions and difficult-to-reach blockages.
Abbott received CE mark for the Trek system earlier this year. Abbott said that the Trek family is a completely re-engineered line of balloon catheters, incorporating many design and technology changes. The Trek system is available in two catheter designs, including the specialty catheter MINI-Trek for accessing smaller vessels.
The Trek system is designed to be used by physicians to open up, or pre-dilate, a lesion before a stent is placed a step which has been shown to improve patient outcomes when the stent is later expanded in the vessel.
According to Abbott, Trek is available in 77 sizes and in a wide variety of diameters (from 1.2 mm to 5 mm) and lengths (from 6 mm to 30 mm). It currently is available on a rapid exchange delivery system. Abbott plans to launch a high-pressure version called NC Trek later this year.
Julinda Mehilli, director of clinical research and data coordinating at Intracoronary Stenting and Antithrombosis Research (ISAR) Center, German Heart Center in Munich, said: “With the Trek system, blockages may be crossed smoothly and reliably even in vessels that are tight and challenging; lesions which were previously thought to be some of the most challenging may now be reached.”
Robert Hance, senior vice president, vascular, Abbott, said: “The result is Trek, which incorporates 10 new design changes for improved performance and represents a true leap forward in balloon dilatation catheter design.
“With Trek and MINI-Trek, we are able to offer two advanced balloon catheter systems designed to meet physicians’ needs for accessing challenging anatomy to help improve patient outcomes.”