Veran Medical
Oct 17, 2007
Nashville, October 17, 2007 – Interventional oncologist Damian Dupuy, M.D., completed the first electromagnetically (“EM”) guided, TipTrack biopsy case today at Rhode Island Hospital, utilizing the Veran SPiN IR™ System. The 88-year old male patient had a 1.4-centimeter lesion in the left lung. Using the Veran IG4 Navigation System, a 19-gauge, tip-tracked co-axial needle was placed in the lesion in less than five minutes and a 22-gauge, Francine biopsy needle was used to obtain two aspiration biopsy specimens. The on-site cytopathologist reviewed the specimens and deemed them diagnostic for adnocarcinoma. Dr. Dupuy then immediately initiated an RFA procedure using a tandem guidance approach with the EM TipTrack needle to place the RF electrode.
“We are very pleased with the accuracy of the system to target small lesions and are excited about the efficiencies that the system offers the hospital in quickly targeting lesions for biopsy and placement of ablation electrodes for delivery of therapy,” stated Dr. Dupuy. “The time savings and one-pass delivery that the system provides is significant in improving patient care.”
“We have been working very hard to expand our instrument portfolio so we can treat smaller and smaller lesions,” explained Jerome R. Edwards”, Veran president and chief executive officer. “, The addition of TipTrack biopsy needles to our instrument portfolio greatly enhances our accuracy. We are optimistic about our ability to miniaturize the technology further and deliver finer gauge instrumentation.”
Veran is a privately held medical device company headquartered in St. Louis, MO. The company’s mission is to empower physicians to diagnose cancer earlier and to enable precision therapy to save lives. In the United States, lung cancer kills more people each year than breast, prostate, pancreatic and colon cancers combined.
Veran has developed and commercialized an FDA cleared, next generation electromagnetic thoracic navigation platform called the SPiN Thoracic Navigation System®. Veran’s breakthrough technology has been adopted by leading cancer centers throughout the United States. Veran provides physicians with a full line of bronchoscopic brushes, needles, forceps and steerable catheters with tiny electromagnetic sensors embedded in the tips for precise navigation. The combination of these proprietary Always-On Tip Tracked® instruments and Veran’s exclusive patient respiratory gating technology enables physicians to accurately access lung nodules by accounting for nodule movement during patient breathing, a common challenge for lung specialists.
Another challenge lung specialists face is that approximately 40% of lung nodules lie outside of an airway, making them very difficult to reach endobronchially, and traditionally requiring an additional procedure. Veran’s SPiN Thoracic Navigation System® is the first and only FDA cleared technology that enables Pulmonologists or Thoracic Surgeons to safely and accurately access lung nodules outside of an airway using SPiN Perc®, a navigated transthoracic needle. With SPiN Perc®, Veran combines endobronchial navigation with percutaneous navigation, allowing physicians to access all lung nodules in a single procedure, regardless of nodule size or location. This eliminates the cost and risk of unnecessary procedures and empowers physicians to provide a same day diagnosis for their patients. The early diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer has been proven to save lives.