Patients are awake during the procedure. Very early results suggest that within months, the channels may promote the growth of new blood vessels in those regions. Resar is accepting up to 30 patients for the Hopkins study, people suffering terrible chest pain with or without physical activity. Subjects must be on maximum medication and ineligible for balloon angioplasty or other surgical procedures. During the procedure, physicians inject a small amount of dye into the heart's blood vessels to locate them.
Physicians also inject dye into the left pumping chamber of the heart to locate the walls.
This guides them as to where to make the tiny holes. They then thread the laser up through the patient's leg to the heart. Patients may require up to 20 channels. They do not feel anything when the laser is fired. The clinical trial is sponsored by CardioGenesis Corp. of Sunnyvale, Calif., manufacturers of the laser.