Bronchoscopic Thermal Vapor Ablation (BTVA) Now Part of the 2019 GOLD Clinical Guidelines for Treating Severe Emphysema
/Seattle, WA - Uptake Medical Inc, the developer of the InterVapor® System for Bronchoscopic Thermal Vapor Ablation (BTVA), today announced the inclusion of BTVA in guidelines for the management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) published by the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD).
The recently published 2019 GOLD guidelines now include Bronchoscopic Thermal Vapor Ablation (BTVA) as a lung volume reduction therapy that may be suitable “In selected patients with heterogeneous or homogenous emphysema and significant hyperinflation refractory to optimized medical care”. The GOLD guidelines state that “Vapor ablation therapy is the only lung reduction therapy that has been reported to be successfully performed at segmental rather than lobar level.”
The GOLD guidelines for the diagnosis, management, and prevention of COPD are the most referenced guidelines for physicians, insurance agencies, and regulators.
Uptake Medical’s InterVapor System for delivery of BTVA is a non-surgical and non-implantable therapy developed for lung disease including emphysema and lung cancer. Vapor ablation is simply the application of heated pure water (steam) to tissue.
BTVA is a simple, quick, and non-invasive procedure that typically takes less than 15 minutes. The procedure can be performed under light sedation. A thin tube (bronchoscope) is navigated down the airway to the diseased areas of the lung. Vapor is then delivered through the tube to these diseased regions. The vapor ablates the diseased tissue and the body removes the ablated tissue through the natural healing process.
In patients with severe emphysema, vapor ablation of the most diseased areas of the lung may result in clinically meaningful improvement in breathing by increasing pulmonary function. Improved breathing can result in a better quality of life for patients suffering from severe emphysema.
Robert Barry, Founder and Inventor of the BTVA therapy stated that “being included in the GOLD guidelines means that BTVA is now recognized by the medical community as a legitimate proven treatment for patients with GOLD stage III & IV emphysema. This is a major milestone for BTVA therapy and is the result of over 12 years of diligent clinical studies culminating with the successful completion of the multi-national STEP-UP randomized controlled study” ¹.
The GOLD Guidelines’ objective is to provide a non-biased review of the current evidence for the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of patients with COPD. For details visit: www.goldcopd.org.
CAUTION: The BTVA InterVapor System is not approved for use in the United States.
For further information contact:
Uptake Medical
Todd Cornell
President
Broncus Medical, Inc./Uptake Medical Technology, Inc.
Cell: +1-770-363-7053
Email: tcornell@broncus.com
About Uptake Medical
Uptake Medical®, a Broncus Company, is a commercial-stage medical device company based in Seattle, WA, USA. Uptake Medical is dedicated to improving the lives of patients suffering from pulmonary disease with vapor ablation.
To learn more about Bronchoscopic Thermal Vapor Ablation (BTVA), please visit: www.uptakemedical.com
About Broncus Medical, Inc.
Broncus Medical, Inc. is dedicated to the development of diagnostic and therapeutic technology for lung disease. Founded in 2012, the company’s primary technology platforms focus on the diagnosis of lung cancer. Its lung cancer portfolio includes the Archimedes™ System, Archimedes™ Planner, LungPoint® Virtual Bronchoscopic Navigation (VBN) System, LungPoint® Planner and FleXNeedle®.
¹ Herth et a. Lancet Respir Med 2016, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S2213-2600(16)00045-X