18 March 2008
For immediate release
Auckland City Hospital Treats First Patient in New Zealand Using Cook Medical’s Zilver® PTX™ Drug-Eluting Peripheral
Stent
New Treatment Could Benefit Patients Who Suffer From Seriously Under-Diagnosed Peripheral Arterial Disease
Auckland, NZ — Physicians at Auckland City Hospital recently became the first in New Zealand to treat a patient with
peripheral arterial disease (PAD) using a new category of drug-eluting stents designed for use in arteries outside the
heart.
Cook Medical’s Zilver® PTX™ drug-eluting peripheral stent, the world’s first drug-eluting stent for PAD which was
recently released for sale in certain regions worldwide including New Zealand, was used to treat the first patient in
December 2007 and a second patient last month.
The procedure was performed by an expert in PAD, Andrew Holden, M.D., Professor of Radiology at Auckland City Hospital,
Auckland.
“There has been considerable interest recently in the use of newer generation stents for treating patients with
extensive disease of the main artery in the thigh, the superficial femoral artery. Patients with disease involving this
artery typically present with calf and thigh pain, especially when walking. While the short term results with these
stents have been promising, the medium to long-term results have been disappointing, primarily due to re-narrowing
within the segment of artery treated with stents," Holden said.
"Drug-eluting stents have shown considerable promise in preventing restenosis in coronary stents. It is hoped similar
technology, used in the legs, will help those who suffer from peripheral arterial disease. Our first patient treated
with the Zilver PTX was considered at risk for open surgery and had already suffered recurrent episodes of re-narrowing
within a stent in the superficial femoral artery. It is hoped that the drug-eluting Zilver PTX will provide a more
durable result.”
PAD affects blood vessels that lead from the heart to other areas of the body, such as the legs, feet and kidneys. When
the blood vessels become blocked due to the build-up of fatty deposits, blood circulation is restricted. Untreated, PAD
results in pain when walking and in serious incidence can lead to gangrene and amputation. It is a serious medical
condition that affects more than 20 million people worldwide each year.
“Bringing together technologies, like devices with pharmaceuticals in the case of Zilver PTX, is a critical step in
developing new, advanced medical devices to treat many patients,” added Rob Lyles, vice president and global leader of
Cook Medical's peripheral intervention division. “At Cook, we continually strive to improve our products in order to
improve the quality of patient outcomes.”
The Zilver PTX stent by Cook Medical has been developed to clear blockages above the knee in the femoropopliteal artery
(the major artery in the thigh). The stent, a small, spring-like metal device that acts like a scaffold, is used to prop
open the blocked arteries. But in many cases, PAD patients who have been treated with balloon angioplasty and
conventional stenting experience restenosis, or renarrowing of the arteries, over time and must undergo more invasive
treatment, such as bypass surgery, to re-open the arteries.
Cook Medical’s Zilver PTX, a self-expanding nitinol stent that delivers a therapeutic dose of paclitaxel, an
antiproliferative drug that has been used successfully to reduce the renarrowing of coronary arteries after stent
implantation, to the interior wall of the artery without the use of a polymer to adhere the drug to the stent body.
The Zilver PTX stent is available commercially in New Zealand and is in clinical trials in Europe, Japan, the U.S. and
other markets. For trial information, visit www.zilverptxtrial.com.
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About Auckland City Hospital
Auckland's acute adult hospital on the Auckland District Health Board's Grafton Road site opened in October 2003. It
brings together the services of Auckland, Green Lane and National Women's Hospitals into one building, and links with
Starship Children's Health.
About Cook Medical
Cook Medical was one of the first companies to introduce interventional devices in the United States. Today, the company
participates in all global markets, integrating device design, biopharma, gene and cell therapy and biotech to enhance
patient safety and improve clinical outcomes. Cook won the prestigious Medical Device Manufacturer of the Year from
Medical Device and Diagnostic Industry magazine. For more information, visit www.cookmedical.com.
ENDS