Overview
The peripheral vascular system consists of blood vessels outside the heart and brain and diseases of these vessels constitute Peripheral Vascular Disease (PVD). While the most common type of circulatory disease remains coronary artery disease, atherosclerosis (the steady buildup of plaque) also disrupts the delivery of oxygenated blood to the body’s other organs (besides the heart). This condition is called peripheral arterial disease (PAD), and is most likely to occur in the iliac, femoral, popliteal, renal, carotid and subclavian arteries. Interventional radiology is a discipline that treats peripheral artery disease minimally invasively, opening clogged arteries via catheter-based procedures.
There are two main types of PAD. Occlusive PADs are caused by the presence of a blood clot that closes off (occludes) the artery. Aneurysmal PAD, or an aneurysm, is caused by the presence of a weakened bulge or ballooning of the blood vessel wall.
The formation of a blood clot (thrombis) is associated with both types of PAD as well as other disruptions to vessel structure or blood flow. In addition to blocking blood flow at the point of clot formation, blood clots may also break free and travel (embolize) through the bloodstream blocking blood flow to other organs.
Many of the same techniques used to diagnose and treat coronary artery disease and stroke are used to establish the extent of PAD. In peripheral angiography, diagnostic radiology catheters are used much like diagnostic cardiology catheters in that they are threaded through the artery to determine the extent of the blockage. Balloon, stents and atherectomy devices adapted to the peripheral vasculature may be used in a peripheral transluminal angioplasty (PTA) procedure to treat blockages. Mechanical thrombectomy devices are used to remove intravascular blood clots and endovascular stent-grafts provide a non-surgical alternative for treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA), a ballooning of a section of the abdominal aorta that is susceptible to bursting and subsequent rapid fatality.
Market Opportunity
The large and growing patient population suffering from PVD (approximately 8 million people in the U.S.) and the desire to treat patients minimally invasively has driven growth in interventional procedures, which continue to displace the more invasive surgical procedures. Kairos estimates the number of peripheral catheterization procedures will exceed 1 million in the U.S. in 2004 and represent over $1 billion in revenue.
Kairos Focus
Growth in patient numbers, procedure volume and new technologies make this an exciting sector. Kairos focuses primarily on adjunctive transcatheter technologies (including arterial sealing devices, mechanical thrombectomy devices, distal protection systems, and devices for improved access). Emerging areas of interest include percutaneous treatment of AAA’s and the evolving area of interventional neuroradiology, including the use of embolic agents and neuromodulation devices. |
