CryoCath Presents at Prestigious Heart Rhythm Society Meeting
Montreal, May 20, 2008 - CryoCath® Technologies Inc., the global leader in cryotherapy
products to treat cardiac arrhythmias, is pleased to report on its participation
in Heart Rhythm 2008, the most prominent and comprehensive educational event on
heart rhythm disorders. The event was held from May 14 to 17 at the Moscone
Convention Center in San Francisco. This year, the meeting attracted a
record-breaking 13,600 attendees and provided 250 educational opportunities in
multiple formats. The world’s leading electrophysiologists presented a broad
range of heart rhythm topics.
CryoCath marked its presence at this
prestigious gathering with 12 poster presentations and 10 well-attended oral
presentations. For the most part, these presentations focused on the Arctic
Front® cryoballoon system for pulmonary-vein isolation in the
treatment of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. Other presentations dealt with
CryoCath’s family of focal catheters for the treatment of a range of
arrhythmias.
CryoCath’s presence at Heart Rhythm 2008 provided the
company with an excellent opportunity to further familiarize physicians with the
growing body of evidence in favour of the cryoballoon approach in the treatment
of AF. This included the consistent, positive results from multiple centres
reported at the most recent Annual Meeting of the German Cardiac Society in
Mannheim in March 2008.
A continuing area of discussion among
electrophysiologists throughout the Heart Rhythm meeting was the possibility of
injury and potentially fatal esophageal fistula due to ablation. Specifically,
two presentations focused on this problem. As reported by Dr. Hiroshi Nakagawa,
an animal study found that heat-based ablations can cause progressive ulceration
of the esophagus, leading to esophagitis and fistula. In contrast, further study
on the effects to the esophagus with cryoablation found that while cryo can
cause ulcerations, they heal quickly. Furthermore, with cryoablation there was
no esophagitis and no fistula formation. These findings, regarding the effects
of cryo-based ablation on the esophagus, were reinforced by results in a
clinical case study with Arctic Front reported by Dr. Vivek Reddy.
About Arctic Front
Arctic Front is a minimally invasive
cryo-balloon catheter designed specifically to treat paroxysmal Atrial
Fibrillation. This bi-directional, double balloon catheter enables physicians to
rapidly isolate all four pulmonary veins for the treatment of AFib. Over 2,600
patients have been treated in over 45 centres across Europe.
About Medtronic CryoCath
CryoCath - www.cryocath.com - is a medical technology company that leads the
world in cryotherapy products to treat cardiac arrhythmias. With a priority
focus on providing physicians with a complete solution of catheter 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.
For further information, please contact:
