To provide vasoview endoscopic vessel harvesting devices
Maquet Cardiovascular has signed a three-year single source provider contract with Novation, for the former’s vasoview endoscopic vessel harvesting (EVH) Systems.
The company said that vasoview products assist healthcare providers in obtaining veins for repair of blocked coronary arteries using only small incisions. This allows for faster healing, less postoperative pain and scarring and potentially reduced risk of complications, such as infection, compared to open vein retrieval methods.
The agreement was effective on November 1, 2009, and runs through September 2012. Under the terms of the agreement, Maquet Cardiovascular will be the provider of EVH devices and supplies to the members of VHA University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC) and Provista, said the company.
In endoscopic vessel harvesting (EVH), a healthy blood vessel, such as the saphenous vein from the leg or the radial artery from the arm, is removed through a small incision for use during coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery to bypass a blockage in the heart, said the company.
The company claims that EVH is considered the standard of care and has been shown to reduce postoperative pain, recovery time, infection rates and scarring, and allow patients to walk sooner and recover more quickly than conventional open vein harvesting surgery. Since the first system for EVH was launched in 1997, more than one million procedures using vasoview products have been performed.
Raoul Quintero, president of Maquet Cardiovascular’ US Sales, said: “Receiving Novation’s single source provider contract for our EVH products affirms Maquet’s role as the industry leader in EVH technology. Our team is looking forward to developing partnerships with the members Novation serves. This agreement will provide the critical EVH products and support that benefit the cardiac surgery teams who will use them, as well as their patients who are undergoing a more minimally invasive surgical procedure.”