Shockwave Medical’s Coronary Intravascular Lithotripsy (IVL)

Shockwave Medical’s Coronary Intravascular Lithotripsy [Image courtesy of Shockwave Medical]

Category: Health, Medical and Biotech
Subcategory: Noninvasive Medtech

From the winners: “Shockwave’s first-of-its-kind Coronary Intravascular Lithotripsy (IVL) treats patients with severely calcified coronary artery disease (CAD) by cracking calcium in the heart to restore blood flow. The technology is a novel application of kidney stone lithotripsy that has been reverse-engineered to make it safe and effective for use in the heart.”

“IVL was born from an engineer who thought lithotripsy, a safe method for breaking up kidney stones using shockwaves created from outside of the body, may also work for breaking calcium within the cardiovascular system without damaging surrounding arterial tissue in the process. Shockwave’s founders successfully fine-tuned the power of a lithotripsy generator to be powerful enough to crack the calcium but safe enough to be used in the heart. The lithotripsy emitters are small enough to package them with a standard balloon angioplasty catheter to deliver localized lithotripsy close to the site of the calcified blockage in the heart.”

“Unlike other treatments for calcified arteries, such as high-pressure balloons or high-speed atherectomy, IVL uses a safer approach to deal with problematic calcium. While high-pressure balloons can rupture the artery when inflated and atherectomy drills can tear through the arterial wall or embolize calcium downstream, IVL’s sonic pressure waves pass safely through the soft arterial tissue and only fracture the calcium. The sonic pressure waves create a series of micro-fractures that crack the calcium without sending it downstream, after which the artery can be expanded and a stent implanted to improve blood flow.”

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