enlightenVue Inc. has received a Notice of Allowance from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for expanded claims for vascular diagnostic and therapeutic applications of its SurgiVue single-use micro-endoscope platform. The Notice of Allowance builds on a patent issued in June 2020 covering vascular applications.
 
“These claims and the underlying patent underscore the breadth of enlightenVue’s platform and its potential to expand the use of minimally invasive endoscopic procedures into new areas,” said enlightenVue’s Co-founder and CEO, Giacomo Basadonna, M.D., Ph.D. “The technology described in the allowed claims and patent enables for the first time, direct visualization of blood vessels along with simultaneous endovascular therapeutic intervention. The endoscope has potential use in a wide range of peripheral, cardiac and cerebral-vascular procedures.”
 
Conventionally, imaging of blood vessels is indirect, generated through techniques such as X-ray or ultrasound. The presence of blood prevents direct visualization of endovascular lesions, and as a result, makes it impossible to perform interventions under direct visualization.
 
The key innovation in enlightenVue’s endoscope platform is an expandable tip on a 2mm diameter endoscope. Expansion of the tip, and an additional cuff within a blood vessel temporarily interrupts blood flow and allows direct visualization. The small working diameter allows the endoscope to reach smaller vessels. The endoscope is also designed to contain two working channels so that diagnostic and therapeutic interventions can be performed during the same procedure. The expandable tip is covered by a family of independent, issued U.S. and international patents.