For patients who have survived a heart attack, things get worse before they get better if they get better at all. Nearly 2 million people worldwide suffer from permanent heart damage due to lack of an appropriate therapy after a heart attack. While state-of-the-art cardiology therapies stop further damage and support circulation, they do not cure already affected areas of the heart nor enhance heart tissue regeneration. PICSO® is designed to deliver an improvement in treating heart attacks and in regenerating failing heart tissue.
Miracor Medical Systems, based in Vienna, Australia, has received CE-mark for the PICSO® (Pressure-controlled Intermittent Coronary Sinus Occlusion) Impulse System, designed to improve acute coronary syndrome (ACS) revascularization following primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). The PICSO® technology redistributes blood flow into the damaged tissue of the heart which can reduce and revitalize the damaged tissue. The CE-mark was granted by the Notified Body NEMKO and allows European interventional cardiologists to use the PICSO® Impulse System during coronary revascularization procedures following myocardial infarction and other types of acute coronary syndromes to intermittently increase the pressure in the coronary venous system.
“Nearly 30% of heart attack patients have suboptimal blood flow even after coronary angioplasty, increasing their risk of death within a year by almost three-fold. PICSO® is designed to help these patients,” said Jon H. Hoem, CEO, Miracor Medical Systems.
Timely myocardial reperfusion using primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) remains the most effective treatment strategy for limiting infract size, reducing left ventricular remodeling, and improving clinical outcomes following ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Despite optimum primary PCI, the mortality and morbidity following a STEMI event remains sizable. Clearly, primary PCI alone is not enough to eliminate the risk for future cardiovascular events.
Miracor’s objective is to establish PICSO® as the standard of care for heart attack patients, thereby improving their quality of life. The initial market opportunity for PICSO® is 30% of all ACS patients treated per year, which translates into more than 350,000 patients in the U.S. and Europe. Miracor presented their developments at OneMedForum SF 2011.
Neovasc is another medical company making advancements in the field of heart repair technology.