Sunday, May 20th,  2007
15th Annual Meeting of Asian Society for Cardiovascular Surgery (ASCVS2007)

The 15th Annual Meeting of Asian Society for Cardiovascular Surgery (ASCVS 2007) was held in Beijing from 15th – 17th May. Over 700 local and overseas participants were present for this 3-day event.

Medistim – VeriQ, Graft Patency Verification
The world leading, intra-operative graft patency verification system, which provides the surgeon with an accurate, real-time and easy-to-use graft patency verification prior to chest closure. Any surgical complications related to grafts can be diagnosed accurately, allowing prompt revisions of grafts. Furthermore recent publications have shown significant reduction in post surgical complications. Surveys conducted during EACTS (European Association of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery) have shown that most surgeons who use a graft patency verification system, use MediStim.

Saint Come Chirurgie – Djumbodis,  Aortic Dissection System
The Djumbodis offers a unique and innovative approach in the stenting of the Aorta. This stent system, designed for both Type-A and Type-B dissections, consists of an open, bare stent available with 4, 9 and 14cm length. The Djumbodis with a nominal diameter of 8mm, is delivered via a highly compliant, low pressure (0.3 bar) soft balloon catheter that allows inflation to a maximum of 45mm. When deployed, the Djumbodis takes the exact shape of the aorta, rejoining the inner and outer wall layers, thrombosing the false lumen. This virtually eliminates the risk of post-surgical migration of the dissection and new aneurysm formation. Because of its open design, the Djumbodis will not obstruct collateral flow and therefore can be used for placement in the Aortic Arch and at the level of the Renal Arteries. Two different deployment catheters allow delivery either peri-aortic, in conjunction with the traditional replacement of the ascending aorta, or via precutaneous approach for treatment of the descending and abdominal aorta.

Synthemed – Repel CV, Resorbable Adhesion Barrier
A  “bioresorbable adhesion barrier film”, uniquely designed and approved for use in cardiac surgery to eliminate / reduce post-surgical adhesion formation, fully resolves within 28 days. The Repel-CV is easy to use, soft yet firm to hold your suture, see-through and the only approved adhesion barrier currently on the market with safety and efficacey studies in CVS application. A lot of interest was received from pediatric cardiac surgeons who previously had to work with inferior, non-approved (for this application) materials, which remained in the patients body and had to be surgically removed during re-operation. But also interest was shown from Adult cardiac surgeons, who often operate on younger patients or complex procedures which may need re-surgery later on, for which the adhesion barrier makes life much easier for the surgeon and safer for the patient.

AtriCure, Surgical AF Management
Focusing entirely on surgical Atrial Fibrillation (AF) management, AtriCure is the leader is enjoying the market leading share in the USA in both open chest/concomitant and closed chest/MIS procedures. Recent developments of innovative technologies has made AF surgery a safe and much more simple procedure which can now be performed by many cardiovascular / cardiothoracic surgeons, yielding the same success rates as the traditional Cox-Maze procedure. AtriCure’s RF Bipolar technology is used in their ablation clamp and pen designs. Furthermore the Bipolar pen can also be used as a quality assurance instrument, as it not only ablates but also enables pacing, one can check and confirm successful conduction blocks. Furthermore the pen can also be used in high frequency stimulation mode to map the Ganglionic Plexi, believed as an additional source of AF. The Ablation Generator continuously calculates and adjusts the required ablation energy for a given tissue and a real-time display informs the surgeon when a transmural lesion has been achieved.

Vivolution, Autologous Fibrin Sealant
The Vivostat Autologous Fibrin Sealant System is a unique solution in the making and the delivery of Fibrin. After drawing a small amount of the patient’s own blood, the Vivostat system fully automatically generates a consistent, high quality fibrin Sealant without the need of any foreign thrombin. Because of its unique processing the Fibrin generated with the Vivostat system has proven to have superior properties in adhesion time, strength and elasticity. Rather than a double barrel syringe delivery, the Spraypen applicator gives much better control for the surgeon during the application of the sealant and allows spraying in any direction. Because the unique Fibrin delivery system, the surgeon can spray on and off over a period of up to 8 hours without any blockage from clotting of the Fibrin often seen with other products. One never knows when or what the next deadly virus may look like, it may already be in circulation, an autologous system is obviously the safest choice.

Bioring, Kalangos Ring - Bio-degradable Annuloplasty
This biodegradable mitral/tricuspid ring is an innovative solution for valve repair. Its unique properties allow the ring to be implanted in the annulus (“intra-tissular”). As the ring resorbs over a 12 month period, it generates fibrosis which strengthens the native annulus yet preserves annulus growth in children. The implantation is easy to learn and significantly faster than with current rings, saving both cross clamp and anesthesia time. Furthermore no anti-coagulation therapy is required if the patient is in sinus and because of its unique design, the Kalangos ring is the only ring that can be used in patients with infected endocarditis. Ring sizes ranges from 16mm to 24mm for children and 26mm to 36mm for adults. The 3 dimensional design with the unique implantation preservs annulus motion, a critical contributor to the patients EF.