Tryton Medical Establishes Bifurcation Institute

Tryton Medical Inc., a developer of stents designed to treat bifurcation lesions, has established an institute to advance the standard of care for bifurcated coronary artery disease.

Membership in the Bifurcation Institute is free and provides physicians access to e-newsletters summarizing recent clinical data and news, links to timely webcasts and a Case Library that highlights the latest techniques and tips when treating bifurcation disease. Clinical symposia and educational workshops also will be offered through the Institute, and results of the Tryton IDE trial will be available as well.

“There is a significant unmet need for education and training regarding bifurcations. In patients undergoing [percutaneous coronary intervention] PCI-stenting, approximately one-third has a bifurcation lesion. Left main disease, an accumulation of plaque that narrows the base of the coronary tree, is a persistent challenge in interventional cardiology, as more than 75 percent of left main lesions are bifurcation lesions. The Bifurcation Institute aims to evolve treatment patterns and current procedural guidance to incorporate safe and effective treatment of bifurcations in daily practice,” said Dr. Maciej Lesiak, chief of the catheterization laboratory at the Karol Marcinkowski University of Medical Sciences in Poznan, Poland.

On March 5-6, Lesiak and the university will host the inaugural Bifurcation Institute workshop focusing on clinical outcomes and treatment of bifurcation lesions with the Tryton Side Branch Stent.

“Tryton Medical is pleased to offer the Bifurcation Institute, which expands our commitment to physician education and training worldwide,” Tryton Medical CEO Shawn McCarthy said. “It is our intent that the Bifurcation Institute will become the preferred resource for physicians providing evidence-based care to patients with complex bifurcation disease.”

Coronary artery disease often results in the buildup of plaque at the site of a bifurcation, where one artery branches from another. Current approaches to treating these lesions are time consuming and technically difficult. As a result, the side branch is often left unstented, leaving it vulnerable to higher rates of restenosis, the re-narrowing of the stented vessel following implantation.

Tryton Medical develops stent systems for the treatment of bifurcation lesions. The company was founded in 2003 in Durham, N.C., by Aaron V. Kaplan, M.D. (professor of medicine at Dartmouth Medical School/Dartmouth- Hitchcock Medical Center) and Dan Cole, General Partner at Spray Ventures. Privately held, Tryton is backed by PTV Sciences, RiverVest Venture Partners, Spray Venture Partners, and the 3×5 Special Opportunity Fund.