Aptus Endosystems, Inc.

Sunnyvale, CA - February 2, 2008

Aptus Endosystems, developer of endovascular stapling and endograft technologies for the treatment of abdominal and thoracic aneurysms, noted a new study published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine and highlighted in the Wall Street Journal.  This study analyzed over 45,000 U.S. cases of aortic aneurysm repair over a four year period, comparing perioperative rates of death and complications, long-term survival, rupture, and reinterventions between endovascular repair and traditional open surgical repair. 

The study titled, “Endovascular vs. Open Repair of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm in the Medicare Population,” authored by Marc L. Schermerhorn, M.D., James O’Malley, Ph.D., Ami Jhaveri, M.D., Philip Cotterill, Ph.D., Frank Pomposelli, M.D., and Bruce Landon, M.D., found that short-term rates of death and complications were significantly lower in patients treated with endovascular aneurysm repair when compared to patients treated with traditional open surgical repair.  The authors that conducted the study are vascular surgeons at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School.

The study found that the death rate with open surgical repair, 4.8%, was four times that of the death rate with endovascular repair, and the reduction in mortality increased with age.  The study concluded that endovascular repair of abdominal aortic aneurysms was associated with lower short-term rates of death and complications and the survival advantage is more durable among older patients.  There were late reinterventions related to abdominal aortic aneurysms in both the open surgical repair and endovascular repair groups. 

An abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a bulge in the segment of the aorta (the main blood vessel exiting the heart which supplies blood to all body organs) located in the abdomen. Aneurysms may occur in any blood vessel, but the most common occur in the abdominal aorta, typically below the level of the renal arteries (the vessels that provide blood to your kidneys). An aneurysm may continue to grow larger until, bulging like a balloon, it ruptures. The larger an aneurysm grows, the higher the likelihood that it will rupture if left untreated. Aneurysm rupture can be a life-threatening event. Thus, the goal of aneurysm repair surgery is the prevention of aortic rupture.
According to the American Heart Association (AHA) and American College of Cardiology (ACC), aneurysm rupture is the 13th leading cause of death in the US, affecting approximately 15,000 people per year. The incidence of aortic aneurysm disease increases every 10 years as the population ages in general. Early detection and diagnosis is increasingly possible as more sophisticated medical screening methods become available.

An abstract of the NEJM study can be found at http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/short/358/5/494.
The Wall Street Journal article can be found at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120173082252729883.html

Company Contact:
Aptus Endosystems, Inc.
Bob H. Katz
President
(408) 530-9050
www.aptusendosystems.com