Long Beach (Calif.) Medical Center on Oct. 17 became the first facility in the nation to use a new heart biopsy device.
The Kronos electrocautery device, a single-use, disposable product, uses batteries to heat a probe tip that cauterizes tissue damaged by biopsy tools. The device improves the safety of coaxial biopsy procedures, according to an Oct. 19 release shared with Becker's.
The hospital is part of Fountain Valley, Calif.-based MemorialCare.
"[The device] offers a breakthrough solution for patients undergoing percutaneous biopsy who are at high risk of bleeding complications," David Tahour, MD, chief of vascular and interventional radiology at MemorialCare, said in the release. "Knowing such a solution exists places both patients and physicians at ease and will create opportunities in the future for patients who might have otherwise not been a candidate for biopsy."