Atlanta,
Georgia
–
Medical
device incubator and technology brokerage firm, Hatch Medical, L.L.C. recently
announced that InGraft Technologies, Inc. and their patented hemodialysis graft
stenosis detection technology has become their newest client.
Approximately
300,000 Americans currently suffer from end-stage renal disease - chronic,
irreversible kidney failure. Of
these, approximately 200,000 receive hemodialysis treatments where blood is
removed from the bloodstream, filtered to remove toxins, and returned to the
body. Hemodialysis depends on the availability of consistent and reliable
access to the bloodstream. The most commonly used technique to achieve
arterio-venous access is to insert a prosthetic graft, connecting a suitable
artery to a nearby vein.
The greatest cause of graft failure is a stenosis at the
venous outflow tract caused by intimal hyperplasia at the venous anastomosis.
Most graft failures are abrupt, caused by thrombus formed as a result of
sluggish blood flow. With more than
200,000 people in the United States on chronic hemodialysis, and a cost of
approximately $10,000 per repair, graft replacement alone is a $1 billion
problem, almost entirely covered by Medicare.
Paul Gianneschi,
President and CEO of Hatch Medical, L.L.C. commented, “InGraft Technologies
has developed a simple yet elegant solution to detect graft-related venous
stenosis prior to inadequate dialysis or sudden thrombosis.
This technique can simply be deployed at the patient’s station in the
dialysis unit, either at the beginning or end of a scheduled dialysis session,
and requires only minutes to perform.”
Mr. Gianneschi
added, “InGraft’s Velocimeter allows the dialysis treatment team to
diagnose stenosis or sluggish blood flow during a regular dialysis session.
This allows for the repair on an outpatient, electively scheduled basis
which has been shown to extend the life of the graft significantly, reducing
overall costs and improving the patient’s quality of life.”
InGraft’s preliminary clinical findings in over 100
patient uses suggests that chronic dialysis patients experience months of
untreated uremic morbidity prior to a clinical event (i.e., thrombosis) that
compels the treatment team to emergently thrombectomize and repair the anatomic
narrowing of the graft.
Ken Kleinman,
M.D., Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine at the UCLA School of Medicine in
Los Angeles, practicing nephrologist and InGraft Technologies President added,
“Despite improvements in dialysis technology, vascular access remains
the limiting factor in delivering adequate hemodialysis. No technological or
therapeutic advance has been able to compensate for inadequate blood flow
through the vasculature and access remains the ‘Achilles Heel’ for the
patient. Early detection with the
InGraft Velocimeter seems an appropriate and cost effective intervention to
prevent this ‘premorbid’ stage of inefficient dialysis and may lead to
better clinical outcomes, better quality of life, preservation and extension of
graft life, and economic savings.”
This
technology is available for sale or license to interested third parties through
an exclusive agreement with Hatch Medical.
For additional information on this, or other Hatch Medical, L.L.C.
products and services, e-mail the company at info@hatchmedical.com.
This release and additional news about Hatch Medical and InGraft
Technologies, Inc. can be obtained by visiting the companies’ web sites at: http://www.hatchmedical.com,
or http://www.ingraft.com.
Contact
Paul Gianneschi, President and CEO, 770-982-6306, or Steve Hvozda, Executive
Vice President, Business Development 404-982-9994
Hatch Medical,
L.L.C.
Duluth, GA 30097
Phone: 770-476-9940
Facsimile: 770-476-7740
info@hatchmedical.com
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