Indianapolis-based NICO Corporation, a manufacturer of minimally invasive brain tumor removal tools for corridor and open surgery approaches, has received approval from Health Canada to sell its NICO Myriad system in Canada. Health Canada approval is similar to receiving U.S. Food and Drug Administration clearance for medical device sales.
“This approval represents a significant step in bringing improved patient care and clinical results to adults and children in Canada who have received the devastating news that they have a brain tumor,” says Jim Pearson, president and CEO of NICO Corporation. “The good news is, now many of these patients have an opportunity for a more effective tumor removal through a very small opening. This will significantly shorten their surgery time, minimize trauma and risk of infection, and can reduce their hospital stay by sometimes more than a week.”
More than 1,000 tumor removal procedures have been performed using the Myriad system since becoming commercially available in 2009. The Ottawa Hospital in Ontario is the first hospital in Canada to purchase the Myriad system, designed to progress minimally invasive neurosurgery.
NICO Corporation has introduced two new Myriad products to its portfolio this year, with additional products scheduled before the end of the year. The company offers a diverse product portfolio that can address many of the 2 million brain and skull base tumors diagnosed worldwide annually.
The Myriad’s slender design and flexible tip allows surgeons to operate through narrow surgical corridors and has been used to successfully remove some tumors that were declared inoperable or too difficult to reach. It is ideal for use in endoscopic approaches, where neurosurgeons use specially designed cameras and instruments to operate safely deep within the brain and skull, often with a very small incision or through the nose with no externally visible incision.
The Myriad is about the size of a pencil and is completely automated, making it the first device that operates in open and endoscopic surgical approaches without using a heat source or ultrasonic energy that can potentially damage delicate critical structures in the brain. It can aggressively remove large masses or fibrotic tissue, or work with the utmost control and precision to remove difficult to reach tumors that may be located near or on top of structures like optic nerves and blood vessels.
The Myriad is also unique in that it can collect intact tissue removed during the surgical process in an attached container, which can then be sent to the lab for pathological and oncological evaluation to help determine post-surgical therapeutic treatment regimens. To learn more about NICO Corporation and the NICO Myriad product line, visit www.niconeuro.com. Watch videos on how the NICO Myriad performs in brain tumor removal on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/user/NICONeuroCorp.
