SAN RAMON, Calif. & PRAGUE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--BioVentrix, a pioneer of technologies and procedures for less-invasive treatment of heart failure (HF), today announced that placement of its Revivent-TC™ Ventricular Enhancement System, via Less Invasive Ventricular Enhancement™ or the LIVE™ procedure, has been successfully expanded to a second European clinical site. The procedure, which is used to reshape and reduce the left ventricle (LV), was performed on a 64-year-old man suffering from ischemic heart failure. Performed by Prof. Petr Neuzil and Dr. Ivo Skalsky at Na Holmoce Hospital in Prague, Czech Republic, the transcatheter procedure was performed without opening the patient’s chest and without the use of a heart-lung bypass machine.
“The Revivent-TC hybrid system allows treatment of both worsening heart failure patients and those who are already very ill without opening the chest,” said Professor Petr Neuzil, head of cardiology and director of the cardiac arrhythmia service. “This is a major breakthrough for this patient population that will lower the barrier to intervention for all heart failure classifications.”
Within three days of the LIVE procedure, the patient’s ejection fraction (EF), or the volume of blood pumped out of the LV with each heartbeat, demonstrated a 45 percent improvement, rising from a preoperative measurement of just 31 percent.
The Revivent-TC System utilizes a myocardial anchor identical to the Company’s flagship surgical product, the Revivent™ Myocardial Anchoring System, which is commercially available and in clinical use at leading heart centers throughout Europe. Prior to the Revivent technology, reshaping of the LV involved an invasive procedure known as surgical ventricular restoration (SVR), which required cutting through the patient’s sternum to expose the heart, then stopping and supporting it with cardiopulmonary (heart-lung) bypass while incisions were made into the LV to remove the scarred, non-functioning tissue. The invasiveness of SVR limits its use due to the fragile nature of many HF patients.
“Placement of the Revivent-TC Ventricular Enhancement System using a transcatheter approach fully leverages the concept of treating heart failure in a less invasive manner,” said Lon Annest, M.D., chief medical officer of BioVentrix. “For the first time, the quality of life for patients with very few treatment alternatives can be dramatically improved without exposing the patient to undue surgical risk. The LIVE procedure not only reduces excessive volume and wall stress, but it also reshapes the left ventricle to improve its pumping efficiency, which is key to treating the underlying cause of heart failure.”
Click here for corporate video with animation
