Ension

Left atrial appendage isolation - The most debilitating consequence of atrial fibrillation (AF) is stroke. Current clinical practice is to treat these patients with blood thinners, a palliative approach to stroke prevention. Despite this treatment, many of these patients continue to have a significant risk of debilitating stroke and also suffer the inherent complications and lifestyle restrictions associated with chronic blood thinner treatment. As an alternative treatment to augment and reduce the use of blood thinners, Ension has developed a single-use, minimally invasive tool to eliminate the risk of stroke in patients with AF. This tool applies a "snare" to the base of the left atrial appendage, a protrusion of the left atrium that has been shown to be the focus of up to 90% of stroke-causing blood clots.

Endovascular surgery - Atrial septal defect (ASD) is one of the most common congenital heart defects found in pediatrics and adults. Surgical repair of ASD has been considered the gold standard for correction of ASD; however, to avoid complications associated with open-chest operation and cardiopulmonary bypass, trans-catheter occlusion implant devices have been developed and are gaining clinical acceptance. While implant occlusion is less invasive than traditional surgery with shorter hospital stay and less scarring, a significant complication rate is associated with occlusion implants, including the erosion or puncture of implant structures through adjacent cardiac tissues.

Leveraging our experience in minimally invasive device design, Ension is developing a system for endovascular-based surgical correction of ASDs. The catheter-based system would achieve tissue stabilization, surgical ASD patch deployment and suture fixation capabilities and replicate traditional surgical correction of ASD via percutaneous access. As a result, our proposed system would eliminate the need for open-chest procedures and cardiopulmonary bypass. Furthermore, this system will utilize a surgical patch comprised only of a polyester patch and suture material leaving no rigid metal structures in the body thereby mitigating the risk of device related puncture or erosion. Successful development of the proposed tools could serve as a platform system for the expansion of endovascular procedures such as surgical manipulations of the left atrial appendage or failing mitral valve.

Medical and surgical device navigation – Ension has performed contract design and development work with regard to sensor integration into various medical devices for remote sensing and navigation. Most recently, Ension developed an endoscopic needle assembly for use during in utero correction of aortic stenosis.