Terumo's Optitorque Catheters Includes Tip Shapes for Transradial Procedures

Terumo Interventional Systems’ new line of coronary diagnostic catheters, Optitorque, features the exclusive Tiger and Jacky tip shapes designed and cleared specifically for transradial procedures. "The Optitorque catheters, specially designed for radial approach, will help to generalize the radial technique by reducing the learning curve," said Ramon Quesada, M.D., medical director of interventional cardiology at Miami Baptist Cardiac & Vascular Institute. With a simple clockwise or counter clockwise rotation, the Tiger and Jacky tip shapes are said to enable angiography of both the RCA and LCA with one catheter. This eliminates the catheter exchange step and can potentially shorten procedure and fluoroscopic time. "These Optitorque catheters are valuable tools for the transradial approach. They can be used for left coronary artery, right coronary artery and LV. So, the need for the exchange of catheters is greatly reduced ... They are great tools and make radial cardiac catheterization easier," said Tak Kwan, M.D., FACC, associate clinical professor of medicine, senior associate director of cardiac catheterization laboratory and interventional cardiology, Beth Israel Medical Center. The Optitorque's construction boasts a double-braided stainless steel mesh middle layer for 1:1 torque control and a large lumen for high flow of contrast, features that are believed to be the key to its high performance.