MONTREAL, April 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - CryoCath Technologies Inc., the global leader in cryotherapy products to treat cardiovascular disease, today announced that additional data on the Company’s proprietary Arctic Front(R) catheter system to treat Atrial Fibrillation (AF) was presented at the German Cardiac Society’s 73rd Annual Conference, the premier annual event for German cardiologists, in Mannheim, Germany on April 12, 2007.
CryoCath sponsored a cryotherapy symposium featuring presentations by Dr. Julian Chun and Dr. Matthais Antz from Asklepios Klinikum St. Georg in Hamburg, Professor Burghard Schumacher from Rhon-Klinikum AG in Bad Neustadt and Professor Luc Jordaens from Erasmus Thoraxcentre in Rotterdam, to a standing room only audience. Dr. Antz and Professors Schumacher and Jordaens presented acute and 3-month data on a total of 150 patients following ablation procedures. Acutely, over 90% of the pulmonary veins were successfully isolated. When pulmonary vein isolation was achieved, 75% of patients were AF-free after three or more months following a single procedure.
In the series of patients presented in Mannheim, no stenosis, thrombosis, esophageal perforation or stroke were reported at any of the centers. As well, no left atrial flutters, a common occurrence following RF ablation procedures, were observed. In less than 5% of cases, phrenic nerve palsy, predominantly asymptomatic, was reported. The rate of incidence observed is consistent with that recorded in both the U.S. and European feasibility studies. All reported incidences of phrenic nerve palsy have resolved as of the presentations in Mannheim last week.
“This commercial European data demonstrates that Arctic Front is a practical tool for the treatment of AF in a typical EP-lab setting. As well it demonstrates that it is feasible to isolate pulmonary veins in a very high percentage of cases using Arctic Front alone,” said Jan Keltjens, President and CEO of CryoCath. “Furthermore, the fact that two out of three centers that presented data at the cryotherapy symposium are successfully using a single Arctic Front balloon to perform cryoablation is a testament to the versatility of this product. It reinforces our belief that it has the potential to dominate the treatment of this disease and demonstrates that it has the potential to bring a simple, safe and effective therapy to many millions of AF patients around the world.”
About CryoCath
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CryoCath - www.cryocath.com - is a medical technology company that leads the world in cryotherapy products to treat cardiovascular disease. With a priority focus on providing physicians with a complete solution of catheter and surgical products to treat cardiac arrhythmias, CryoCath has multiple products approved in the U.S., across Europe and several ROW countries. The Company is developing additional products to expand its pipeline of products to treat cardiac arrhythmias.
This press release includes “forward-looking statements” that are subject to risks and uncertainties, including with respect to the timing of regulatory trials and their outcome. For information identifying legislative or regulatory, economic, climatic, currency, technological, competitive and other important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward looking statements, see CryoCath’s annual report available at www.sedar.com under the heading Risks and Uncertainties in the Management’s Discussion and Analysis section.
CryoCath Technologies Inc.
CONTACT: visit our website at www.cryocath.com, or contact: Michael Moore,Investor Relations, Phone: (416) 815-0700 ext. 241, Fax: (416) 815-0080,E-mail: mmoore@equicomgroup.com