WOODLAND PARK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Interventional radiologist Elsie Koh, MD and her team at Azura Vascular Care have been performing a new vascular procedure using Ellipsys, a new minimally invasive, FDA-approved treatment for patients with kidney failure. On January 21, the team performed their first such procedure for a patient with End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD), and they have performed six more successful procedures since. Dr. Koh is the first doctor to offer Ellipsys to patients in all of New Jersey and the Greater New York City region.
Developed by Avenu Medical (San Juan Capistrano, CA), the Ellipsys system used by Dr. Koh transforms a more risky open surgery connecting an artery to a vein into a minimally invasive procedure using a unique catheter. Using a percutaneous approach, the Ellipsys procedure replaces an incision with a needle puncture, ultrasound imaging replaces surgical dissection, and sutures are replaced with tissue fusion. Dr. Koh performs the procedure in her same day ambulatory surgical center, but Ellipsys can also be used in hospitals. After the procedure, the patient leaves with only a Band-Aid.
The first patient on whom Dr. Koh performed the Ellipsys procedure was a 67-year-old woman who was fearful of the prior surgical option and was living with a plastic catheter coming out of her chest for three years.
“After the Ellipsys procedure, she kept telling us she felt like a ‘celebrity,’ because many of the medical staff wanted to examine her and feel her fistula, the conduit that is used for dialysis. They were in disbelief that she had that done with no associated scar,” said Dr. Koh.
“It’s very rewarding to be able to offer a simpler, more efficient and less-invasive option for patients requiring vascular access,” added Dr. Koh, who also serves as Medical Director, Chief Medical Informatics Officer, Regional Medical Officer and Medical Advisory Board Member of Azura Vascular Care. “We’re proud to be the first ambulatory surgical center in the greater New York City region to provide this quality of life improvement for this fragile patient population. With no incision and quicker recovery time, this procedure is so much easier on the patient. I’m really pleased with the results we have seen and look forward to many more patients benefitting from this innovative treatment.”
Last week, Dr. Koh also moderated and led the EndoAVF (Endovascular arteriovenous fistula) creations panel session at the Society of Interventional Radiologists (SIR) 2019 Annual Meeting in Austin, Texas. The presentations, considered by many to be among the highlights of this year’s SIR event, covered the patient and physician benefits of using Ellipsys and featured several of the world’s leading interventional radiologists and authorities on EndoAVF procedures, including Dr. Koh; John Aruny, MD of Orangeburg, South Carolina; Jeffrey Hull, MD of Richmond, VA; and Robert Shahverdyan, MD of Hamburg, Germany.
One of the first women to enter the field of interventional radiology when only 1% of doctors in the field were women (only up to 9% now), Dr. Koh received her medical degree from Tufts University in Boston, MA and her Executive Master in Healthcare Leadership (EMHL) degree from Brown University in Providence, RI, where she also received her undergraduate Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology. She completed her Interventional Radiology training at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York City. Dr. Koh is also a Proctor Gallagher Institute consultant who speaks and consults about the mind-body connection, from a doctor’s perspective, and how we can “think into results.”
Azura Vascular Care is a national network of outpatient vascular care centers and ambulatory surgery centers across the nation that specializes in minimally invasive techniques to treat a wide range of vascular conditions.
Avenu Medical, Inc. was founded in 2010 to pursue unmet clinical needs in the ESRD and vascular access market. The company has developed the Ellipsys Vascular Access System which is an innovative, ultrasound-guided, single catheter endoAVF system used to percutaneously create an arteriovenous (AV) fistula for hemodialysis access. Learn more at www.avenumedical.com.
Media: To arrange an
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information about the new Ellipsys Vascular Access System, please
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Jackie Pantaliano at 856/874-1581 or jackiep@impressionspr.net;
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Paul Williams at 310/569-0023 or paul@medialinecommunications.com.