DANVILLE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--VasoStitch announced today the establishment of its Scientific Advisory Board with the appointment of Willam Fearon, M.D., and Prof. Chaim Lotan, M.D., as its first members.
Current surgical arterial or cardiac access and closure for large-diameter, catheter-based intervention such as TAVR (transcatheter aortic valve replacement) adds up to an hour to an already long, complex procedure. A device that can replicate the current ‘gold standard’ of surgical access-and-closure in a more rapid and facile fashion would reduce healthcare costs dramatically, enhance adoption of large diameter cardiovascular and endovascular therapies, and improve the efficiency of patient management.
“Presently, surgical cut-down and suturing of the femoral artery is the most common approach for larger-diameter percutaneous vascular procedures, but this is not ideal,” said Dr. Fearon, Associate Professor for Cardiovascular Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, Calif.
“It is logical to assume that increased patient throughput and simplified scheduling will be additional payer and hospital benefits that would facilitate fast adoption of the VasoStitch systems,” added Prof. Lotan, director of The Heart Institute, Hadassah University Hospital, Jerusalem, Israel.
“We are extremely proud to establish the VasoStitch scientific advisory board with the appointment of two preeminent cardiologists,” said Amir Belson, MD, Founder and Chairman of VasoStitch. Dr. Belson previously founded NeoGuide Systems, a company that developed platform technology for minimally invasive surgical procedures and was acquired by Intuitive Surgical in 2009, and more recently has founded Emboline, Modular Surgical, OxiJet, RadGuard, ThermaCure, Vascular Pathways and ZipLine Medical.
“We look forward to the participation of Dr. Fearon and Dr. Lotan as VasoStitch develops two platform technologies designed to access and close percutaneous therapy sites without the need for open surgery,” added David Smith, CEO of VasoStitch. “Our systems are designed to reduce procedural complexity and eliminate the need for an open surgical procedure, which would translate into reduced time to ambulation and a shorter hospital stay for patients.”
About VasoStitch
VasoStitch is an emerging medical device company that is developing nonsurgical transfemoral and transapical access-and-closure systems to facilitate deployment of large diameter transcatheter therapeutic devices—designed to reduce procedural complexity and eliminate need for an “open” surgical procedure.