He received four coronary artery bypass grafts, and 10 laser channels were created on the side of his heart. He was discharged after only three days in the hospital. The area of his heart muscle which received TMR had already improved function. The heart muscle depends entirely on blood supplied by the coronary arteries for nourishment and survival. Although a patient with coronary artery disease has reservoirs of oxygen-rich blood contained in the pumping chamber of the heart, the heart muscle is dying because the blood supply carried by the coronary arteries to the heart wall has been blocked.
Additional occlusion can cause death.
These channels allow oxygen-rich blood to flow directly from the chamber to the heart muscle. To expedite USS ' entry into the TMR market, the company acquired controlling interest in Munich, Germany-based Medolas GmbH in July. Medolas is the leading European developer and manufacturer of TMR products using internally manufactured excimer lasers. Medolas' TMR products have been used on nearly 200 patients, the second largest clinical series in the world. A mechanically-controlled delivery assures consistent, reproducible channeling.