São Paulo, Brazil, 30 October 2020 — The first virtual International Congress of Endovascular Surgery (eCongresso Internacional de Cirurgia Endovascular (eCICE)) kicked off as an online event from 7 – 8th September, 2020. As an influential conference in Latin America in the field of vascular surgery, the congress brought together vascular surgeons from around the world to showcase recent academic insights and developments in several cutting-edge application areas of endovascular treatment. Castor® Branched Aortic Stent-Graft System (the “Castor® Stent”), the world’s first stent system of the kind developed by Shanghai MicroPort Endovascular MedTech(Group) Co., Ltd. (“Endovastec™”), was launched on eCICE's live case demonstration.
On September 7 in Brazil, a team led by Professor Chang Shu, Director of the Vascular Surgery Center at Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences Fuwai Hospital was invited to present a live Thoracic Endovascular Aortic Repair (TEVAR) procedure using the Castor® Stent for the treatment of an acute aortic disease. This was the first live surgery broadcast at the congress and was moderated by Congress President Dr. Armando Lotabo. The patient, a 77-year-old male, was preoperatively diagnosed with a penetrating aortic ulcer (PAU) with intermural hematoma, which extended to the aortic arch. Using the Castor® Stent, Prof. Shu and his team completed the integrated supra-arch reconstruction within only 27 minutes.
The surgery was a success based on the postoperative angiography showing the Castor® Stent was tightly attached to the aortic vessel wall, without obstructing the blood flow in the left subclavian artery. Participants and Prof. Shu discussed the intraoperative positioning of the Castor® stent, as well as the unibody design, indications and other related issues. Prof. Shu also shared with international experts the clinical experience of Castor® Stent since its launch in China and the development of the Chinese aortic market.
Castor™ Branched Aortic Stent-Graft System is the first clinically available unibody branched aortic stent-graft system globally, extending the application of TEVAR surgery to aortic arch for the first time and broadening the scope of existing products. It allows more patients with complex thoracic aortic disease to receive interventions without open surgery, thus reducing patient suffering. The unique unibody design enables safe and convenient reconstruction of the LSA, reducing the incidence of various kinds of endoleaks and providing long-term stability, which can not only minimize surgical invasion, but also improve surgical safety.
South America is one of the birthplaces of endovascular surgical treatment, with the world’s first endovascular aneurysm stent repair performed in the region. The live streaming of the Castor® Stent surgery at the eCICE was the first time the product has been presented to the academic community in South America since its approval in Argentina in July 2020. In the future, Endovastec™ will continue to promote academic exchange and in-depth medical-industrial cooperation among vascular surgery experts at home and abroad, and to introduce more high-quality and innovative medical devices to overseas markets, offering better aortic interventional treatment solutions for patients around the world.