Advanced emphysema patients who underwent minimally invasive InterVapor™ (bronchoscopic thermal vapor ablation) experienced sustained improved lung function and quality of life outcomes 1 year after undergoing treatment, according to new data presented yesterday at the meeting of the American Thoracic Society in San Francisco. The Uptake Medical’s InterVapor procedure involves the catheter-based application of precise amounts of thermal vapor to specific areas within an emphysema patient’s airways, to achieve lung volume reduction.
Individuals who underwent the InterVapor procedure maintained statistically significant lung volume reduction at 12 months, with lung volume in the targeted region reduced by 46% compared to the patients’ baseline. One year after their procedure in only one lung, InterVapor patients experienced sustained, clinically and statistically significant lung function improvements, according to the presenters. These included 10% mean improvements in FEV1, and an average 303 ml improvement in residual volume.
Patients also experienced less breathlessness and a sustained improvement in health-related quality of life compared to baseline, as observed by an average improvement of 11 units in the St. George’s Respiratory Questionnaire.
"Patients who received the InterVapor procedure experienced improved lung function and health outcomes 1 year following treatment, and these improvements continued despite expectations for disease-related decline over time," said Felix Herth, MD, PhD, lead presenter from Thoraxklinik in Heidelberg, Germany. "The data on these real benefits for patients reinforce this technology’s potential as a new therapeutic option for managing severe emphysema."
Source: Uptake Medical Inc
