It’s a new tool offering patients with obstructed central venous systems an alternative way to reduce costs while obtaining treatment. SciTech Now takes you inside Bluegrass Vascular to learn how the Surfacer System is used for central venous access, making it easier to facilitate catheter insertion into the central venous system. The system allows patients going through dialysis and other treatments a better quality of life.
Chronic kidney disease requires dialysis in many cases; mandating the patient to get treatment weekly for several hours a day. This can cause a lot of stress on central veins for many patients. Access to their central venous occlusions can be difficult especially with prolonged treatments from chronic diseases. Providers are forced to sacrifice secondary veins in patients when their primary veins aren’t accessible and this often leads to morbidity of venous hypertension or the mortality risk of an access crisis.
The Surfacer System has eliminated some of the risk involved by inserting the needle through the femoral vein and navigating it through an exit point in the right internal jugular (RIJ) vein. This inside-out approach opens access to the occluded vein while preserving the viability of secondary central veins.
CEO and President of Bluegrass Vascular, Dr. Gabriele Niederauer explains how the Surfacer System serves as a critical tool to aid in the safety of patients.
“It’s absolutely fantastic to be able to treat these very sick patients and give them another life line, literally,” said Niederauer. “But what I’m more excited about is that this product can now prevent patients from getting so sick. It can allow the physicians to literally stay on the right side and not burn up the other central veins.”
Learn more about Bluegrass Vascular in this SciTech Now episode airing Friday, Sept. 23 at 7:30 p.m. on KLRN.
