Device to Monitor Cardiac Tissue Viability

DESCRIPTION: The last decade of cardiac surgery has witnessed significant strides towards better understanding and management of previously lethal cardiac pathologies. It is now recognized that conditions of myocardial stunning and hibernation exist, in which the injured myocardium is only temporarily inhibited in its mechanical function. Such myocardial states give the appearance of infarcted or irreversibly damaged tissue (thus resembling total necrosis), but in fact are only transiently depressed in contractility. Because such tissues are actually viable and can be salvaged, it would be highly desirable to have some method for use in a clinical setting to distinguish stunned or hibernating tissue from infarcted tissue. Present methods for detecting myocardial viability are either inaccurate or are, at best, time consuming, costly, cumbersome, and only available in highly specialized university cardiac centers.

A cardiology team working at the University of California has invented a probe to monitor cardiac tissue, allowing an in situ determination of its viability. The UC probe can provide a simple and effective means for an instantaneous diagnostic assessment of the tissue condition at the probe site. The probe is designed to fit at the end of a cardiac catheter, used during routine cardiac catheterization.

APPLICATIONS:

* detection of salvageable myocardium following heart attacks or in cardiomyopathy
* evaluation of myocardial viability around bypass surgery sites
* detection of rejected myocardium following transplantation
* evaluation of myocardial viability in advanced cardiac valve disease and in congenital cardiac surgery
* highly needed research on tissue viability and preservation including tissues other than myocardium

ADVANTAGES:

* allows instantaneous diagnostic assessment of tissue at the probe site
* enables the retention of viable heart tissue
* promises to substantially improve the ability of health care professionals to manage complex heart disease cases

REFERENCE: 1993-234

Patents:
US 5,865,738   [MORE INFO]

Type of Offer: Licensing



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