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When every decision matters, Terumo makes no compromises
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An innovator in radial access
Radial access is a technique in which doctors insert a thin tube known as a catheter into the radial artery at the wrist instead of taking the conventional route through the patient’s femoral artery in the groin. Medical teams use the radial path to access the heart or blood vessels throughout the body for diagnoses and treatments.
“There can be many advantages to accessing through the wrist, for the patient, for the physician and for the healthcare system,” says Farah.
For the patient, the procedure is less invasive, there is typically less bleeding, and the recovery time is reportedly reduced, she said. For healthcare professionals, procedures can have fewer complications and be carried out more swiftly, while healthcare systems are supportive because patients can be on their feet again sooner and require fewer additional medical resources, which results in reduced costs.
Transradial procedures were first performed in the 1990s but have taken time to be adopted in certain regions of the world. Together with physicians who strongly believe in the benefits of the technique, Terumo has been working hard to provide training and education to healthcare professionals about its advantages and equip them with the most advanced tools available.
For example, Terumo's portfolio supports radial access procedures through hydrophilic-coated introducer sheaths and hemostasis bands designed to achieve effective post-procedural bleeding control.
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For well over a century, Terumo Corporation has had a singular aim: to ensure that anyone who has to undergo a medical procedure has a smooth, and worry-free experience.
Headquartered in Tokyo, Terumo has come a long way since its founding as the Red Line Thermometer Company in 1921 by a group of physicians and scientists - including Dr. Shibasaburo Kitasato. The company now contributes to health solutions in more than 160 nations, with research and development facilities and production bases around the globe.
The dramatic growth of one of the world’s leading medical firms has not, however, eclipsed its commitment to patients’ needs.
Experts in clinical environments, Terumo Interventional Systems (TIS) supports healthcare professionals with products and solutions designed with a strong focus on quality, usability and reliability. For TIS, the slightest compromise is unacceptable.
“We see ourselves as close partners of physicians who carry out interventional procedures, who have to take countless decisions very quickly that will affect the outcome for the patient,” said Ghada Farah, Division President of TIS.
“Physicians have to decide how to access the lesion, which devices they will use, how they will optimize their treatment,” she said. “Every one of those decisions is very important and we support them through innovation, technologies and education.
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Professor Takashi Akasaka, Emeritus Professor at Wakayama Medical University and secretary general of the Asian Pacific Society of Cardiology, says radial access offers clear advantages over the femoral artery.
“The radial artery is smaller and that means greater safety,” he said. “Terumo has been successful in reducing the thickness of sheaths and developing catheters designed to facilitate radial access.”
The benefits for patients are clear, he said, with radial access more comfortable and ensuring greater mobility sooner after the procedure.
“Access through the wrist also causes less bleeding at the catheter site and generally leads to fewer complications,” he said. "Terumo has played an important role in the evolution of transradial intervention."
“This combination of miniaturization, deliverability and procedural reliability is particularly important as radial access has become the preferred approach for many coronary procedures.”
Today, the radial approach has expanded beyond coronary interventions to procedures involving cerebral, visceral and lower-extremity arteries.
Terumo has consistently focused on technologies that make procedures less invasive while maintaining the performance required for increasingly complex coronary interventions.
Dr. Carlos Collet Director of Imaging, Physiology and Translational Therapeutics at New York’s Cardiovascular Research Foundation
Enhanced imaging
Terumo’s imaging technology gives medical teams insight into a patient’s blood vessels when they carry out catheter-based procedures to diagnose and treat diseases of the heart and blood vessels.
Armed with that real-time knowledge and in tandem with developments in radial access, physicians are able to make timely decisions on each course of treatment.
“As patient care is our top priority, we know that physicians need us to provide them with the best information possible, while they are carrying out procedures,” Farah said. “Our access technologies get us into the vasculature, but now we need to visually understand the characteristics of a lesion and the treatment that is required. That then permits the physician to select the most appropriate devices and medical approaches.
“When they have that visual information, they can truly make informed decisions, deliver personalized approaches and accordingly improve patient care,” she said.
The Intravascular Ultrasound (IVUS) Imaging System employs ultrasound waves to scan widely and deeply into the wall of the blood vessel, while the Optical Frequency Domain Imaging (OFDI) technology uses near-infrared light to capture ultra-high-resolution surface details.
“The images are critical to providing the actual pathology of the vessels in three dimensions,” said Professor Akasaka. “With that information, the physician can plan the procedure more accurately and even change the approach in real time based on the imaging.”
Inevitably, better data support improved patient outcomes and fewer complications, with imaging systems increasingly being embraced by doctors around the world.
Both IVUS and OFDI have their advantages, but Terumo has recently launched a system that brings the two approaches together, delivering simultaneous single-catheter viewing of deep vessel structures (by IVUS) alongside high-resolution surface details (by OFDI). This dual sensor system is already in use in the US and Japan.
“Achieving perfect safety is the most important part of our work,” said Professor Akasaka. “Physicians are constantly thinking about how we can improve our treatment techniques.
Fifteen years ago, I could not have envisioned a dual imaging sensor – and now it is a reality.
Professor Takashi Akasaka Emeritus Professor at Wakayama Medical University and secretary general of the Asian Pacific Society of Cardiology
Dr. Collet is in complete agreement. “Ultimately, if we want intravascular imaging to move from selective use to routine use during coronary interventions, the technology has to become easier to interpret, faster and more intuitive,” he said. “Hybrid imaging could be an important step toward achieving that.”
The aim, Dr. Collet said, is for innovation to reduce complexity for physicians while increasing precision for patients.
“The most valuable technologies will be those that bring imaging, physiology and interventional devices together into an integrated workflow and help physicians to make better decisions at each stage of coronary interventions.”
Consistency and quality
Today, Terumo manufactures tens of thousands of products across a range of medical sectors, and emphasizes its commitment to Kin-Shitsu, a Japanese term that means high levels of consistency and quality.
In parallel, it strives to deliver higher levels of healthcare professional training and education and operates initiatives that constantly help to improve clinical skills and can help to improve patient outcomes.
“We are constantly looking to make improvements for all stakeholders,” said Farah. “These are emerging approaches, but there is great interest in the medical community, and we want our technology to become established, so procedures become less invasive and the patient experience is even better.”
It is through the promise “When Every Decision Matters” that Terumo Interventional Systems is looking towards the next era of interventional care and contributing to society through healthcare.
160
nations, with research and development facilities and production bases around the globe.
Temuro contributes to healthcare solutions in over
In a clinical environment, a physician can only treat what they can see and reach, Farah said. And as a recognized world-leader in the development and deployment of vascular intervention products, a number of Terumo’s creations have had a meaningful impact on the quality of care that patients receive.
Of all those breakthroughs, arguably none have been more important than in the areas of radial access and intra-vascular imaging.
We want to take the role of a quiet partner, helping physicians to perform with confidence, because they know they are delivering the best possible treatment for their patients.
Ghada Farah Division President of Terumo Interventional Systems
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