Vascular Solutions Announces Relaunch of Venture Catheter

April 29, 2013—Vascular Solutions, Inc. (Minneapolis, MN) announced that it has relaunched the Venture catheter, a deflectable-tip catheter used to provide directional guidewire control in challenging coronary and peripheral interventional procedures. The over-the-wire versions may also be used for manual delivery of saline solution or diagnostic contrast agents.

According to the company's announcement, the Venture catheter is indicated for directing, steering, controlling, and supporting a guidewire to access discrete regions of the coronary and peripheral vasculature. The device is available immediately in the United States and expected to become available in select international markets over the next few months.

Vascular Solutions acquired the Venture catheter from St. Jude Medical, Inc. (St. Paul, MN) in August of 2012. Since the acquisition, Vascular Solutions sold the remaining limited inventory and completed the installation and validation of the Venture production equipment and processes in its manufacturing facility.

As noted in the company's press release, the Venture catheter's deflectable atraumatic distal tip can be angled up to 90°, aiming to provide control and precision while navigating complex turns in the vessel and back-up support when crossing tight lesions. The Venture catheter is available in three versions: rapid-exchange, over-the-wire models for difficult coronary and peripheral cases, and a specialized coronary sinus version for directing wires in left-ventricular lead placement in biventricular implantable defibrillator procedures. All three versions are 6-F guide-compatible and are used with standard 0.014-inch guidewires, according to Vascular Solutions.