Investors put 25 million euros into AMT Medical. This Dutch company is focusing on the development of the ALANA Heart Bypass System. The system enables the creation of a bypass via minimally invasive surgery, and is designed to replace traditional open-heart surgery.
AMT Medical was founded in 2017 and is based in both Ede and Utrecht. It developed the ELANA Heart Bypass System in cooperation with UMC Utrecht. The procedure has been put into clinical practice at St Antonius Hospital in Nieuwegein and Berlin's The German Heart Center.
Minimally invasive bypass surgery
The ELANA Heart Bypass System enables coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) surgery. This via minimally invasive surgery, without having to stop the heart or use a heart-lung machine for this purpose.
A CABG is a surgical procedure that improves blood flow to the heart. During the operation, a blood vessel from another part of the body is used to create a new route for blood, bypassing a narrowed or blocked coronary artery.
Minimising risks and recovery time
The system thereby reduces the risk of heart attack and other complications. By enabling minimally invasive surgery, the system shortens patients' recovery time. For example, traditional open-heart surgery requires opening the sternum and setting aside ribs.
The ELANA Heart Bypass System uses a sutureless technique. This technique uses a special clip and excimer laser, which is a pulsed ultraviolet laser that works on an excimer basis. This allows veins to be connected to each other without the need for manual sutures.
With the system, AMT Medical aims to reduce the cost of CABGs. Not only by reducing recovery time through minimally invasive surgery, allowing patients to be discharged from hospital earlier, but also by reducing the duration of operations. In addition, the system should reduce the number of complications.
CE certification and clinical trials
Several parties are putting money into AMT Medical. These include Bender Analytical Holding, Invest-NL and the European Innovation Council (EIC). Earlier, Oost NL also invested in the company.
AMT Medical plans to use the money raised for, among other things, its CE certification; it expects to be awarded this certification in 2026. The company also wants to conduct clinical trials in the United States (US).
In Europe, AMT Medical plans to validate the system for the first time during surgery, where a CABG procedure is performed on a beating heart. The company expects to share the results of this validation before the end of this year.
More information about AMT Medical is available here.
Image: fernando zhiminaicela via Pixabay
