- Epicardial therapy at the forefront of new way to ablate atrial fibrillation -
IOWA CITY, IA, Nov. 24, 2014 /CNW/ - IOWA Approach Inc. today announced it has closed an equity financing with Boston Scientific Corporation. Funds will be used to advance product engineering and for additional pre-clinical activities for its patent-pending Atrial Fibrillation (AF) ablation technology.
Treating AF with ablation has become accepted medical therapy with approximately 400,000 procedures a year. However, current treatment options are complex, lengthy and costly.
"IOWA Approach's system may have the potential to overcome the shortcomings of current ablation techniques to become the gold standard," said Allan Zingeler, President and CEO of IOWA Approach. "Our approach has two major advantages: simplicity and speed. Our ablation method requires no expensive 3D mapping, no sophisticated imaging, no intracardiac echo and no transseptal puncture. Moreover, the time to make the entire continuous and transmural lesion isolating all of the pulmonary veins takes less than one minute. Simplicity and speed are why we are excited about our potential clinical utility and broad commercial practicality."
About Atrial Fibrillation (AF)
AF affects more than 2.5 million Americans, is a leading cause of stroke and costs the healthcare system more than $25 billion a year. It is a serious cardiac disorder that restricts a higher quality of life by contributing to fatigue and other symptoms. Every year an additional 200,000 plus patients are diagnosed with AF due to aging demographics. Various drug therapies work in a minority of patients and often only serve to mask the underlying problem.
About IOWA Approach
IOWA Approach has one focus: to develop and commercialize a simple to use and cost effective ablation therapy for the treatment of atrial fibrillation. There are three key aspects to IOWA Approach's ablation technique: simple access to the outside of the heart, one lesion to isolate all the pulmonary veins using a loop catheter and a safe yet powerful energy source that rapidly makes continuous, transmural lesions.
SOURCE: IOWA Approach Inc.
Allan Zingeler
[email protected]
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