Carrying Out Contactless Therapies with Piezo-Based Catheter Instruments

Cardiovascular diseases such as vascular calcifications (arteriosclerosis) or cardiac arrhythmia (e.g., atrial fibrillation) affect millions of people worldwide. Often they cause life-threatening complications such as heart attacks or strokes. Minimally invasive catheter solutions are increasingly being used for treating these diseases since they ensure very gentle procedures and a speedy recovery. Ultrasound generated with piezo elements can be used for contactless and minimally invasive treatment in the smallest spaces.

Contactless Cardiovascular Procedures

Modern intravascular lithotripsy is based on piezo-driven ultrasound catheters: They are used to treat the cause of arterial fibrillation with the help of targeted lesions, to prepare the area of treatment for a catheter-supported aortic valve implantation (TAVI, TAVR) with ultrasonic waves, or to contactlessly destroy intravascular or aortic plaque. These instruments have to be ultracompact while working reliably and highly efficiently. Smallest piezo components make this combination possible – they drive the tools reliably and enable gentle but effective treatments.

White Paper

Therapeutic Ultrasound

Piezo Transducers for Contactless Treatments

Version / Date
WP4029E 2020-09
pdf - 915 KB
Version / Date
WP4029D 2020-09
pdf - 949 KB

Non-Invasive Ultrasound Therapy of Calcific Aortic Stenosis

To defer a transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) procedure, our customer AorticLab created a transcatheter debridement solution for ultrasonic histotripsy. It is designed to gently fragment calcifications on an aortic valve to restore its functionality. Within the device, piezoelectric transducers generate ultrasound at two different frequencies, creating a strong cavitation effect to break down calcifications both in the tissue and on the valve.

The use of piezoelectric transducers to create low energy waves can be very effective without damaging vital tissues. We rely on the quality and high-performing components PI Ceramic manufactures for our devices.

Enrico Fermi, R&D Project Leader AorticLab

How exactly does this piezo-driven transcatheter solution work? Get an in-depth insight through the research article by AorticLab.

Read article

Minimally Invasive, Maximally Effective: Miniaturized Piezo Elements for Ultrasonic Catheters

>> Miniaturized piezo elements from PI Ceramic are suitable for medical procedures in the smallest spaces. Tiniest disks, plates, tubes, and spheres as well as any other shape in sizes of just a few millimeters offer a high effective force in a minimal installation space. With our profound know-how in test and packaging, we support our customers in assembling, gluing, or contacting small piezos and even assembling entire transducers. In addition to applications such as intravascular lithotripsy and catheter ablation, miniature components can be used for other minimally invasive treatment procedures.

With our worldwide unique expertise in miniaturized piezo elements, we can support you in setting a milestone in intravascular therapy.

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