WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cook Medical’s launch of Fusion® LoopTip™ sets a new standard for wire guide cannulation, the company announced today. LoopTip delivers potentially less traumatic access and navigation of the pancreatobiliary ductal system when diagnosing and treating conditions of the biliary and pancreatic ducts. These include gallstones, malignant and benign strictures, conditions gastroenterologists treat using endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP).
Cook Medical, the world’s only full-line supplier of endoscopic medical devices, engineered the physician-designed Fusion LoopTip Wire Guide for successful cannulation through the irregular surfaces of the pancreatic and biliary ductal systems. The new product, which is the first-of-its-kind in the industry, provides gastroenterologists with the potential for less trauma during cannulation due to its closed distal loop.
According to the National Digestive Disease Information Clearing House (NDDIC), ERCP combines the use of both x-rays and an endoscope to view the biliary tree and pancreatic duct.1 ERCP requires cannulation, a method by which gastroenterologists gain access to the biliary and pancreatic ducts with either a medical device, such as a sphincterotome, or a wire guide. To meet the needs of gastroenterologists that prefer one method of cannulation over the other, Cook Medical offers an array of DomeTip™ sphincterotomes, like the Fusion OMNI-Tome, for device cannulation and a line of wire guides that is today being augmented by the launch of the industry’s only closed distal loop wire guide.
Acute pancreatitis, sudden inflammation of the pancreas, can be a common, serious post-ERCP side effect and is often a result of difficult or failed cannulation. Designed with a nitinol core, the LoopTip wire guide is engineered to flex and deflect toward the open pathway. This delivers potentially less traumatic access and improved navigation of the pancreatobiliary ductal system, decreasing the risk of failed cannulation, perforation and post-ERCP pancreatitis. The nitinol core also provides kink resistance and shape retention.
The LoopTip wire guide also has a radiopaque coil spring that provides excellent fluoroscopic visibility. In addition, the spiral markings extending to the distal end of the wire guide provide an endoscopic view of the wire guide’s movement during cannulation. The wire guide also comes in a variety of lengths to suit physician preference.
“This Fusion wire is the only loop-tipped wire guide on the market today, helping to maintain Cook Medical’s position as the only full-line endoscopy supplier in the market,” said Barry Slowey, vice president of Global Sales and Marketing for Cook Medical’s Endoscopy strategic business unit. “The advancements of the LoopTip, including its excellent fluoroscopic visibility and flexibility, enable physicians to perform a less traumatic procedure. In turn, physicians have the opportunity to leverage best-in-class endoscopic devices that vastly improve patient care.”
About Cook Medical
Cook Medical was one of the first companies to help popularize interventional medicine, pioneering many of the devices now commonly used worldwide to perform minimally invasive medical procedures. Today, the company integrates device design, biopharma, gene and cell therapy and biotech to enhance patient safety and improve clinical outcomes in the fields of aortic intervention; interventional cardiology; critical care medicine; gastroenterology; radiology, peripheral vascular, bone access and oncology; surgery and soft tissue repair; urology; and assisted reproductive technology, gynecology and high-risk obstetrics. Cook is a past winner of the prestigious Medical Device Manufacturer of the Year Award from Medical Device & Diagnostic Industry magazine. For more information, visit www.cookmedical.com.
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1 http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/ercp/
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