InfraReDx launches enhanced version of LipiScan IVUS Coronary Imaging System

InfraReDx, Inc., a medical device company committed to advancing the diagnosis and management of coronary artery and other vascular diseases, today announced the launch of its TVC Imaging System™, an enhanced version of the LipiScan™ IVUS Coronary Imaging System. The TVC Imaging System is a first-in-class intravascular imaging system that holds the potential to revolutionize the management of coronary artery disease by providing information that is critical for evaluating vessel structure and composition, also known as true vessel characterization. The system's improved image resolution delivers better clinical detail, providing more reliable vessel interpretation and assessment. The device is the only multimodality imaging system to combine both intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) and near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). InfraReDx will debut the TVC Imaging System at the upcoming annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics Meeting (TCT 2011), being held Nov. 7-11 in San Francisco. The company will be exhibiting at booth #807 during the conference.

“InfraReDx is committed to helping interventional cardiologists deliver the best possible care for their patients by providing intravascular imaging solutions that are easy to use and produce a more complete view of the vessel's structure and composition”

"InfraReDx is committed to helping interventional cardiologists deliver the best possible care for their patients by providing intravascular imaging solutions that are easy to use and produce a more complete view of the vessel's structure and composition," said Donald Southard, president and chief executive officer of InfraReDx. "The TVC Imaging System provides this additional information by combining high quality IVUS imaging with InfraReDx's proprietary NIRS technology for compositional assessment. We are pleased to announce that this next generation platform technology is now available to customers in the U.S. as well as in Europe."

The imaging modalities used in interventional cardiology today are limited in their ability to reveal comprehensive information necessary to optimize clinical decision making and support treatment strategies. The ability to visualize not only the physical structure of a vessel, but also its composition and the potential presence of lipid core plaque (LCP) of interest, enables interventional cardiologists to obtain true vessel characterization and contributes to selection of optimal treatment for patients. LCP is a fatty coronary artery plaque suspected to be vulnerable to rupture, to cause most heart attacks and known to complicate stenting procedures either during or following the placement of coronary artery stents.

The TVC Imaging System and its ability to detect LCP helps interventional cardiologists identify which patients are at risk of stenting complications, thereby facilitating the formulation of more precisely tailored interventional treatment strategies. In a single pullback, the TVC Imaging System provides rapid and automated detection of LCPs during the cardiac catheterization procedure. Through IVUS technology, the TVC Imaging System provides clear and relevant information about vessel structure in real time. The system's NIRS technology enables interventional cardiologists to accurately understand vessel composition and reliably visualize the presence of LCP that are associated with plaque embolization and other complications of coronary interventions. The multimodality images are obtained simultaneously and require no post-processing or image manipulation. The TVC Imaging System is the only device approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the detection of LCP.