St. Jude Medical Inc. is a company that works on a global level to increase awareness of people and provide them an easy access to the medical technologies that can make their lives better.
On Dec. 21, St. Jude took possession of the blood flow meter technology from the well known Radi Medical Systems of Uppsala, Sweden. The deal was finalized in $250 millions. This study was funded by Radi.
The new medical instrument has a thin wire positioned on top of a pressure sensor, which is connected via circulatory system of the device. This set up can be used to measure the quantity of blood flow passing through a clogged vessel. It is a unique and an effective blood-flow meter.
The blood-flow meter has the ability to detect the presence and extent of the blockages, and this gives more control in the hands of physician to carry the treatment further in the most appropriate way. Using the meter also results in medical cost cutting by an average of $675 per patient, the study revealed.
It was noted in the study that with the regular use of the medical device (fractional-flow reserve meter), the rate of heart attacks and deaths fell down by 35 percent.
The study findings may lend a new perspective to the cardiologists to look at patients with blocked arteries, Morton Kern, a cardiologist at the University of California, Irvine, said.
Kern maintained, “Cardiologists are very pro stent…When they see a blockage they want to put a stent in it -- even if it may not be necessary. The measurement provides objective evidence as to whether a blockage should get a stent or not.”
There are always risks involved with the stenting procedures; also, “patients run the risk of clots forming, of heart attacks at a later time, or of repeat surgeries,” Kern added. Thus, this new tool will enable physicians to take more detailed and better decisions for the patients’ good, he concluded.
The facts derived through the study may encourage the physicians to avoid stenting procedures as much as possible on the patients with blockages.
The study findings were published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
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