Platinum today: News/Industrial and Medical

Platinum-titanium stent performs well in clinical trials

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

A new stent made from platinum and titanium demonstrated "remarkably positive" results during clinical trials on stroke patients, researchers have said.

The stent, which offers a new way of opening blocked arteries in the brain, was performed on more than 140 patients at medical centres across the US.

"I really think this is going to be a game changer," said Wayne Clark, a co-author of the study and director of the Oregon Stroke Center at Oregon Health & Science University.

"These results showed that not only could we open up the blood vessel but we can help many more people recover fully from their strokes when this 'stent retriever' procedure is used."

Patients who were within eight hours of suffering an acute ischemic stroke had the stent procedure performed on them.

During this process, doctors use a catheter to guide the small stent from the groin area to the brain.

The stent, made of a platinum-titanium mesh and called the Solitaire Flow Restoration Device, is guided into the part of a patient's brain arteries where a blood clot has formed.

More people showed an "excellent neurological outcome" compared to the traditional retriever device – 56 per cent instead of 33 per cent.

Fewer people died from their strokes – 17 per cent with the new stent versus 38 per cent with the corkscrew device.

Source:

Study: Stroke victims recover much better after temporary stent procedure (03/02/12)

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Boston Scientific markets Promus Element platinum stent in Europe

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Boston Scientific Corporation is marketing its Promus Element Plus Everolimus-Eluting Platinum Chromium Coronary Stent System in Europe for the first time.

The first patient implant in Europe using the new device was performed by professor Antonio Colombo, director of the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory at Columbus Hospital and San Raffaele Hospital in Milan, Italy.

The new stent system incorporates a special platinum-chromium (PtCr) alloy and innovative stent design to improve deliverability in treating patients with coronary artery disease.

Boston said it will begin marketing the product in certain European and other CE Mark countries "immediately", with a full market launch planned for the second quarter.

"The PtCr alloy and stent architecture used in the element platform offer significant advantages in conformability and radiopacity compared to other stent platforms," Dr Colombo explained.

He went on to say that the new stent, which demonstrated "strong clinical outcomes" from trials, will offer an extra benefit when accessing "challenging lesions".

The original Promus Element Stent received CE Mark approval in 2009, while this latest version was approved last year for Europe, as well as by the US Food and Drug Administration.

Source:

Boston Scientific Announces First Implant and Market Launch of PROMUS Element™ Plus Stent System in Europe (01/02/12)

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Tanaka unveils new ruthenium material for semiconductors

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Tanaka Kikinzoku Kogyo has unveiled a ruthenium material able to form a film up to six times the normal depth for capacitor electrodes used in semiconductor memory DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory).

The firm, part of Tanaka Precious Metals, developed the material in conjunction with professor Seiji Ogo from Kyushu University.

It hopes to commercialise the material this year for use in the miniaturisation of next-generation DRAM.

This ruthenium material is a Metalorganic Chemical Vapor Deposition film formation material that can be used in next-generation DRAM with a circuit of 20 nanometres

According to the company, the film enables the manufacture of capacitor electrodes with six times the normal depth.

"Semiconductor manufacturers are considering the mass production of next-generation semiconductors in the 20-nanometre range during 2012, and by using this ruthenium precursor the manufacture of capacitor electrodes able to support miniaturisation in the 20-nanometre generation and later," Tanaka said in a statement.

Source:

Tanaka Precious Metals Develops World's First Ruthenium Material Able to Form a Film Up to Six Times the Normal Depth for DRAM Capacitor Electrodes (19/01/12)

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