No matter how much we want, we cannot sum up the medical sector in a concise way that you often have the liberty to use with the other spheres. After all, it’s way too vast. Apart from just the size, the fact that this particular sector has many elements in play at the same time also feeds the feeling of hyperactivity around it. Now, the issue is that this alleged ‘hyperactivity’ has had a history of scaring people off into not seeking medical care when they actually need it. The lack of trust between the hugely essential field and the general public is known to cause every sort of problem that you can imagine. This issue, however, resolved itself to a great extent when the medical sphere opened the gates for technology. For the first time ever, people didn’t look at the idea of healthcare with a grimace going off over their face. They were rather feeling quite optimistic about it. With the sector now offering a patient-centric care, more and more individuals began to put their trust back into hospital and other health institutions. This sense of trust had a domino effect. It paved the way for even better technology to enter the equation, and as a result of that, the people of today have managed to foster a closer relationship with their well-being. Nevertheless, if there is one thing that technology has taught us, it’s to not sit back and get complacent. The medical fraternity is unwaveringly upholding that belief and we have a latest example to testify it.
Shockwave Medical, a medtech company from California, has let the world in on their new development of a new technique called intravascular lithotripsy. The technique works by delivering sonic waves that are directed towards the calcified plaque in the artery. These sonic waves are supposed to break off the plaque, thus giving space to insert a stent for opening up the artery. Current techniques for this purpose include using high pressure balloons, which have proven to be not so effective, while also posing sizeable safety concerns. We do have other techniques too that are mainly focused on chipping away the plaque, but the historical data indicates towards blockages happening in other areas following the use of this method. Hence, the intravascular lithotripsy comes at an opportune moment. Shockwave Medical has also validated their IVL system in the DISRUPT CAD III study, gaining a fair amount of credibility with the move.
With FDA approval finally in the bag, the company would be hoping to publicly launch their technique soon.
