Medtronic, one of the world's leading medical technology company, now in the process of launching its new cobalt based Driver Coronary Stent in the country, introduced the product in Chennai to a select audience of hospital professionals from different parts of the state.

According to Dr. Nitin Shah, Director, Medtronic, the product has excellent response from the hospital fraternity so far, and many hospitals in Gujarat, New Delhi and Chennai have already placed orders for the same.

Unlike the stainless steel stent, it is the first and only cobalt based, modular stent for treating coronary artery diseases, and is cheaper by 50 percent than drug coated stents. Priced only half a lakh in the Indian market, the Driver stent's advanced alloy helps to have strong, ultra-thin struts that offer excellent flexibility and vessel support. Though cobalt alloys have been used in medical implants, including blood path implants for the last 30 years, it had never been used as a coronary stent, according to Robert Young, International Marketing Manager of Medtronic.

According to Dr B.Chevalier, Interventional Cardiologist from Paris, research trials held in US using cobalt based Driver coronary stents showed as low as three percent Target Lesion Revascularization (TLR), the need for a repeated angioplasty or coronary bypass following a stent implant among patients with diseased coronary arteries.