Vascular Solutions Launches Turnpike LP Catheter for Complex Coronary and Peripheral Interventions

December 22, 2015—Vascular Solutions, Inc. announced that it has launched the Turnpike LP in the United States and European markets. The device is the fourth version of the company’s Turnpike catheters for use in complex coronary and peripheral interventions. Turnpike LP’s lower distal shaft profile and increased flexibility in the distal shaft and tip improve the deliverability of the catheter in extremely tortuous vessels, stated the company.

The Turnpike catheters are intended to be used to access discrete regions of the coronary and/or peripheral vasculature. The catheters may be used to facilitate placement or exchange of guidewires and to subselectively infuse/deliver diagnostic and therapeutic agents. All four versions of Turnpike are single-lumen, over-the-wire catheters that are compatible with 0.014-inch guidewires. The catheters’ shafts are constructed of two polymer layers that encapsulate a braid and a dual-layer coil. The shaft construction is designed to provide superior tracking and advancement over the guidewire. The distal 60 cm of each catheter has a hydrophilic coating for smooth advancement.

According to Vascular Solutions, clinical evaluations of the Turnpike LP have been conducted at hospitals in Europe and the United States, with excellent procedural outcomes and physician response.

Dimitri Karmpaliotis, MD, who is Director of the Complex Interventional Angioplasty Program at New York Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center in New York, New York, is one the physicians who conducted the initial clinical evaluations of the Turnpike LP. In the company’s announcement, Dr. Karmpaliotis commented, “Complex procedures require highly specialized devices, and Vascular Solutions’ Turnpike LP represents a significant advancement in the ability to traverse smaller caliber and tortuous vessels. The device was used in two cases to cross extremely challenging and friable epicardial collaterals during coronary chronic total occlusion angioplasty. The Turnpike LP performed brilliantly in this case, and I believe it is the only device on the market that would have successfully and safely navigated the anatomy. Due to the device’s lower profile, the Turnpike LP was able to advance beyond significant calcification without complications.”