CryoCor: Corporate Profile: Problem

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PROBLEM - SOLUTION

The Problem
The standard approach for the treatment of atrial fibrillation is anti-arrhythmic drug therapy which often is ineffective and may cause serious, sometimes life-threatening, complications. Because of the limitations of these therapies and the high complication rate, there is substantial physician demand for a safe and effective catheter ablation technology for the treatment and cure of atrial fibrillation and other complex arrhythmias.

Currently there are no FDA approved medical devices for treating atrial fibrillation. The standard cardiac ablation platform is radiofrequency energy (RF) which creates lesions in the heart by heating cardiac tissue. While RF has been shown to be effective at treating simple arrhythmias, recently it has become recognized in published literature that RF is not ideal for producing the larger lesions needed to treat complex arrhythmias such as atrial fibrillation without being associated with serious safety complications due to heat-related collateral damage, such as pulmonary vein stenosis (narrowing), clots and stroke.

The Solution — CryoCor's Cardiac Cryoablation
The CryoCor™ Cardiac Cryoablation System provides a novel technology for localizing and treating cardiac arrhythmias. Using a process called "cryoablation", the system uses cryo-energy, or very low temperatures, to permanently interrupt the electrical signals that cause abnormal heart rate and/or rhythm within the heart.

Cryoablation offers key advantages over RF and other heat-based ablation energy sources:

Potential for protection against irreversible tissue damage and avoidance of unintended AF block and phrenic nerve damage.
No pulmonary vein stenosis noted in Cryocor's European CE Mark cryoablation clinical study.
Avoidance of emboli (blood clots) provoked by heat-based energy sources.
Cryoadhesion to tissue surface facilitates proper catheter placement and contact during ablation reducing need for constant fluoroscopic monitoring.