Cook Medical, a US-based developer of health care devices, has introduced salivary duct access products to treat sialolithiasis, defined as obstruction by salivary duct stones.
Designed as alternative to open surgery, the devices are used by physicians in minimally invasive procedure such as sialendoscopy for visualizing and treating obstructive salivary gland disorders through the salivary ducts.
The devices feature a soft-tip wire guide that is used to access the salivary duct through the duct opening and maintain ductal access throughout the procedure.
Flexible serial dilators are then introduced over the wire to expand the opening and prepare the salivary duct for the introduction of procedural instruments.
To create an open working channel into the salivary duct, the Kolenda introducer sheath is passed over the wire and serves to protect the ductal wall and allow for easy insertion and removal of the procedural instruments.
The stone extractors including the NGage and the NCircle that have baskets made of nitinol memory wire are used to manipulate and remove salivary stones.
The company has introduced salivary duct access products as part of its new Otolaryngology -- Head and Neck Surgery (OHNS) clinical division.
The OHNS division will focus on products that are used to treat salivary gland disease, chronic sinusitis, vocal cord paralysis and obstructive sleep apnea, as well as products used for soft tissue repair and in interventional airway and esophageal procedures.
