ETMC: Area Doctors First in State to Test New Treatment

TYLER — East Texas cardiologists are the first in Texas to implant an investigational bioresorbable vascular scaffold, similar to a stent except it eventually dissolves, for patients with heart disease as part of a national clinical trial. That’s according to a news release from East Texas Medical Center. Absorb, manufactured by the healthcare company Abbott, is a small mesh tube that is designed to open a blocked heart vessel, restore blood flow to the heart, and then dissolve into the blood vessel over time. The trial is being conducted by physicians of Tyler Cardiovascular Consultants and is being performed at the ETMC Cardiovascular Institute. Dr. Robert Carney with Tyler CVC is the principal investigator and Dr. Frank Navetta performed the first implantation in the trial June 21.