INDIANAPOLIS, Sept. 3, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Indianapolis medical device maker NICO Corporation was recognized with the Indiana Innovation Award for its BrainPath technology used for safely and atraumatically accessing emergent and hard to reach brain abnormalities that may have once been considered inoperable. The award was presented by Centric, an Indiana not-for-profit dedicated to innovation, during the Day of Innovation held August 28 in Indianapolis.
“Almost every day, we are seeing our designated BrainPath Center hospitals from around the country getting media attention because of the results they are seeing with patients who have had surgery with BrainPath,” said Jim Pearson, president and CEO of NICO Corporation. “These patients are amazed and elated with their post-operative results, but more than anything, they are asking why this procedure is not the new standard of care in neurosurgery.”
The BrainPath became commercially available in 2012. Since then, the market has responded positively to the technology and the company is seeing strong adoption, with more than 150 surgeons now trained through concentrated education courses and over 1,000 successful surgeries performed. Clinical and scientific evidence is building with peer-reviewed publications, 9 peer-reviewed abstracts and Case Studies presented or published validating the clinical and patient outcomes using BrainPath.
The BrainPath is being used in large academic centers to small community hospitals across the U.S., including: Johns Hopkins, Cleveland Clinic, Duke Raleigh, Aurora Health Care, University of Arkansas, George Washington University, Stanford, Cancer Treatment Centers of America, Cedars Sinai, Houston Methodist, St. Louis University, Long Island Jewish, Evanston NorthShore University, St. Vincent Health (Ind.), Indiana University Health, Emory University, University of Virginia, Delray Medical Center, Phoenix Baptist, and St. Mary’s (Fla.).
The BrainPath provides unique surgical access to brain abnormalities and dramatically changes how surgeons can safely move through the natural folds of the brain, with the goal of using a parallel approach to the brain fiber tracts and reducing the potential for tissue damage that may result in deficits after surgery. It is uniquely designed to minimize tissue damage by displacing tissues of the brain during advancement to the abnormality much like the way a boat hull moves through water by displacing what is in front of it all through an opening smaller than a dime. The outer sheath remains in the brain to serve as a protective portal for surgeons to easily maintain access to the surgical site during tissue removal or fluid evacuation.
“We have now surpassed the ‘proof of concept’ stage as validated by the outcomes we are seeing,” said Pearson. “This is an extremely underdeveloped market segment with many patients not having surgical options when they are told they have a brain abnormality. Our mission as a company is to change this.”
Each year, an estimated 50 percent of the more than 450,000 patients in the U.S. diagnosed with brain abnormalities have limited surgical options available to them. Worldwide, this number increases to 2 million. In this time of advanced technology and once-complicated surgeries moving to minimally invasive approaches, replicating this standard of care in neurosurgery remains one of the final frontiers. Pearson likens the move from performing open knee surgery in the past to arthroscopic surgery that is done today. “Most people today would never choose a more invasive procedure that requires more anesthesia, a longer surgery and long recovery time when they have the option of surgery that is the extreme opposite,” he said.
“We are giving patients hope,” Pearson said. “Hope that new technology advancements like BrainPath will give them a better tomorrow a better future.”
For more information about NICO Corporation or the NICO BrainPath, visit www.NICOneuro.com or call 888.632.7071. Surgical procedures using the BrainPath can be viewed on the NICO YouTube channel at NICOneuroCorp.
Contact: Sue Goin
Mobile: 317.402.8690
Sue.Goin@Sapphire-Com.com
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SOURCE NICO Corporation
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