Cook Medical to expand availability of Evolution stent to US

Cook Medical is to make its European CE Mark-approved Evolution Biliary Controlled-Release Uncovered Stent available in the US after it was ratified by US regulators.

The Food and Drug Administration has cleared the device to help relieve symptoms associated with obstruction of the bile duct, adding to the company's line of Evolution controlled-release stents for the gastrointestinal (GI) tract.

This new product was approved for use in Europe in spring 2012, with more than 1,200 stents having been placed in patients since this time.

Each Evolution stent features a delivery system that allows a physician to deploy or recapture the stent in equal increments by squeezing the trigger on the handle, with a mark helping to alert users when the device has gone too far to be retrieved.

Barry Slowey, global leader of Cook Medical's endoscopy division, said: "Now clinicians can experience the same precision and control throughout the entire GI tract, from the oesophagus to the colon."

Last month, the company demonstrated a range of new gastroenterology offerings during the Digestive Disease Week event in Orlando, including its EchoTip ProCore High Definition Ultrasound Biopsy needles.