A MEDICAL DEVICE which was invented at University of Limerick is to be produced and brought to market by a company in Galway.

The device will be used to improve success rates in angioplasty procedures, which involve widening a narrowed or obstructed blood vessel. One of the risks of the procedure can be that particles of fatty deposits can be dislodged during the treatment. If they then block other arteries they pose a risk of a stroke or a heart attack to the patient.

Dr Michael Walsh, lead inventor of the device, said:

The device combines angioplasty balloon and embolic protection technologies allowing for continuous blood flow during the procedure. In practice this means the angioplasty balloon can be left in a full inflated state in the artery for a longer time than is currently possible. This will increase the efficiency of the angioplasty procedure and offers significant potential as a platform for drug-device combinations.

Clada Medical, based in Mervue Industrial Park in Galway city, has been licensed to produce the device. Its CEO Ray Blowick said the license was “very important for the future of our company” and that he expected it to help with the creation of new jobs and increasing exports in the biomedical industry here.

The device was created at the Centre for Applied Biomedical Engineering Research (CABER) at UL. There are around 1 million angioplasty procedures performed in the world every year.