Central Venous Access: Start-Ups Change The Standard Of Care
This article was originally published in Start Up
Executive Summary
The decades-old central venous access device market may seem mature, but medtech start-ups are seeing the lucrative unmet clinical needs presented by high rates of pulmonary embolism and other complications. Profiles of BiO2 Medical, Houston Medical Robotics, and Mirador Biomedical.
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Mirador Biomedical Inc.
During insertion of central venous catheters, physicians may unintentionally advance into an artery rather than the desired vein, an error that can cause serious complications, even death. Mirador Biomedical Inc. aims to improve the safety of central venous access with its Compass platform, battery-powered, pressure-measurement devices that can rapidly detect the difference in pressures between arteries and veins.
BiO2 Medical Inc.
Hospitalized patients are at the greatest risk for a fatal pulmonary embolism within the first 10 days after admission, but traditional inferior vena cava filters to prevent PEs if anticoagulant therapy is contraindicated and/or ineffective are not typically placed in a patient until approximately one week into their hospital stay. BiO2 Medical Inc. is looking to address this treatment gap with its Angel Catheter, a device that incorporates the PE protection of a retrievable, self-expanding nitinol IVC filter attached to a triple-lumen, central venous access catheter.
Houston Medical Robotics Inc.
More than five million central venous catheter lines are placed in the US each year, but the high-volume, invasive procedure has a troubling 2% to 26% procedural error rate, and can cause serious and expensive complications. Houston Medical Robotics Inc. has developed the Euclid Tier 1 Mini Access image-guided medical robotics vascular access platform to standardize, automate, and increase the safety of this critical procedure.