Lombard Medical has announced an update on the commercial launch of the new Altura endovascular stent graft. Since the commercial launch in late February, Altura has been implanted at approximately half of the 20 initial launch reference centres identified in the UK and Germany.
The remaining reference centres have Altura cases planned for early in the second quarter. A Lombard Medical press release suggests that, “Early experience supports the company’s belief that Altura offers a simplified, accurate, fast and predictable solution for the treatment of AAAs in standard anatomy.”
One of the most experienced launch reference centres to date is the University Hospital of South Manchester (UHSM) in the UK, where physicians have already demonstrated the use of Altura as an outpatient treatment for AAA disease where the patient is admitted to the hospital, treated and discharged home on the same day.
Steven Richardson, consultant vascular and endovascular surgeon at UHSM, commented, “Since introducing the new Altura stent graft into our clinical practice, we have already been able to perform day case endovascular aneurysm repair. The unique features of Altura provide a predictable procedure time and allow for a minimally invasive percutaneous approach which greatly benefits the patient and the hospital system.”
