Carrying Out Contactless Therapies with Piezo-Based Catheter Instruments

Cardiovascular diseases such as vascular calcifications (arteriosclerosis) or cardiac arrhythmia (e.g., atrial fibrillation) affect millions of people worldwide. Often they cause life-threatening complications such as heart attacks or strokes. Minimally invasive catheter solutions are increasingly being used for treating these diseases since they ensure very gentle procedures and a speedy recovery. Ultrasound generated with piezo elements can be used for contactless and minimally invasive treatment in the smallest spaces.

Modern intravascular lithotripsy is based on piezo-driven ultrasound catheters: They are used to treat the cause of arterial fibrillation with the help of targeted lesions, to prepare the area of treatment for a catheter-supported aortic valve implantation (TAVI, TAVR) with ultrasonic waves, or to contactlessly destroy intravascular or aortic plaque. These instruments have to be ultracompact while working reliably and highly efficiently. Smallest piezo components make this combination possible – they drive the tools reliably and enable gentle but effective treatments.

To defer a transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) procedure, our customer AorticLab created a transcatheter debridement solution for ultrasonic histotripsy. It is designed to gently fragment calcifications on an aortic valve to restore its functionality. Within the device, piezoelectric transducers generate ultrasound at two different frequencies, creating a strong cavitation effect to break down calcifications both in the tissue and on the valve.