Cardiology

Neurosonix wins European cardiac surgery innovation award for ultrasound device

4 October 2007

Neurosonix Ltd has received an award from the European Association of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (EACTS) for its EmBlocker ultrasound device that provides protection against cerebral embolism during heart surgery.

The award honours technological breakthroughs in all areas related to thoracic and cardiovascular research.

“We are honoured that the EACTS has acknowledged the breakthrough we achieved in offering the cardiac surgeons and their patients a unique solution aimed at reducing the risk of brain injury following cardiac surgery,” says Professor Simcha Milo, inventor of the technology and co-founder of Israel-based Neurosonix. “We are very excited that the EACTS recognized that the award-winning technology of the EmBlocker has the potential to change standard cardiac surgery practice.”

Cerebral embolism is considered a major cause of brain injury during cardiac surgical procedures. The EmBlocker, which is Neurosonix's first device, uses proprietary ultrasound-based technology to non-invasively divert emboli flow away from the cerebral arteries in order to reduce the risk of post-operative brain injury.

Prof. Jos Maessen, principal investigator of the pilot clinical study, Head of the Cardio-Thoracic Surgery Department at the Academic Hospital of Maastricht, the Netherlands, officially presented the results of the study at the 2007 EACTS Meeting. The study showed a significant decrease of over 65% of emboli flow to the brain in patients treated with the EmBlocker.

“This is an important day for us, because the surgical community who faces the devastating results of brain injury, acknowledged the importance of the ground-breaking solution developed by Neurosonix,” says Dr Nathan Sela, Neurosonix CEO.

Neurosonix expects to release the EmBlocker to the European market during 2008.

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