Endoscopy

Business Definition

Boston Scientific’s Endoscopy business is a global leader in the field of endoscopic (pertaining to the digestive tract), pulmonary, and other medical devices. These devices address the needs of gastroenterologists, colorectal surgeons, cardiothoracic surgeons, pulmonologists, interventional radiologists, and surgical oncologists.

Background

Digestive disorders can greatly impact an afflicted person’s quality of life. One such condition of the digestive tract, pancreaticobiliary disease (gallstones), is prevalent in the U.S. According to the American Liver Foundation, more than 500,000 Americans undergo gallbladder surgery each year. Gallstones typically block the common bile duct and prevent the normal flow of bile through the biliary tree, often causing a patient to experience pain and appear jaundiced (yellow skin tone).

Cancers of the digestive and pulmonary systems can also greatly impact an afflicted person’s ability to live his/her life comfortably. The American Cancer Society estimates there will be over 500,000 new cases of digestive and respiratory cancers in 2008. In many of those cases, inoperable tumors may prevent patients from swallowing or breathing on their own without some intervention.

Boston Scientific Endoscopy focuses on helping physicians to treat these digestive and airway diseases by providing them with less-invasive devices. Less-invasive treatments are often preferable to conventional surgery in treating diseases of the digestive and pulmonary systems, as they can significantly reduce recovery time, are generally less expensive and typically subject patients to fewer risks than conventional surgery. In less-invasive procedures, devices are usually inserted into the body through small incisions or natural openings and can be guided to most areas of the anatomy to diagnose and treat a wide range of medical problems.

Less-invasive treatment options for diseases of the digestive and pulmonary systems include products and procedures designed to help perform biopsies, retrieve gallstones, retrieve foreign bodies in the airway, remove polyps, open strictures of the digestive tract and airway, stop internal bleeding (due to ulcers or ruptured blood vessels), ease symptoms of some types of digestive tract and airway cancers and enable enteral (percutaneous through the stomach or intestine) feeding.

Boston Scientific Endoscopy also offers radiofrequency (RF) ablation technology, designed to destroy non-resectable liver lesions and other soft-tissue lesions through the targeted application of energy, which creates heat.  Of the approximate two million liver cancer patients worldwide, approximately 400,000 patients are candidates for RF ablation.

Fast Facts

• Boston Scientific Endoscopy is a market leader in endoscopic devices
• In 2007, the Endoscopy business introduced the SpyGlass® Direct Visualization System for single-operator duodenoscope-assisted visual examination of the bile ducts. Direct visualization with the SpyGlass System potentially offers significant procedural and clinical advantages over conventional Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography (ERCP).
• Biliary and pancreatic diseases are routinely treated by Boston Scientific’s exclusive line of RX Biliary devices. These high-performance devices are designed to provide access and control with a sensation of device responsiveness for physicians.
• The WallFlex®, Wallstent®, Ultraflex™ and Polyflex® Stents are market-leading examples of our commitment to advancing stent technology. A variety of self-expanding metal stents are designed to provide patients with palliative relief for malignant strictures in the colon, duodenum, common bile duct and esophagus. Polyflex Self-Expanding, Silicone-coated Stents are designed to provide new treatment options for managing some refractory (recurrent) or inoperable benign strictures of the esophagus and central airway.
• The Resolution® Clip Device is the only mechanical clip on the market designed to open and close (up to five times) before deployment to enable a physician to see the effects of the clip before committing to deployment.   It is intended for hemostasis, endoscopic marking, closure, and anchoring jejunal feeding tubes.
• Boston Scientific Endoscopy is the only manufacturer of a combination therapy device, injection and thermal, for the treatment of actual or potential bleeding sites in the GI tract.
• The fourth-generation market-leading Radial Jaw® Biopsy Forceps product family was expanded in 2006.  This product family incorporates a new jaw design and a new micro-mesh tooth configuration designed to provide large tissue samples without the need to use large channel, therapeutic endoscopes.
• In 2003, Boston Scientific Endoscopy launched the first balloon dilators used to treat strictures in the airway.

Looking to the Future

The evolving collaboration of endoscopy and surgery is predicted to open additional gastrointestinal treatment options such as natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery (NOTES).  Boston Scientific is investigating advanced technologies that may contribute to such next-generation procedures and continues to support industry research in these areas.

Boston Scientific

Boston Scientific (NYSE: BSX) is a worldwide developer, manufacturer and marketer of medical devices with approximately 25,000 employees and revenue of $8.3 billion in 2007. For more than 25 years, Boston Scientific has advanced the practice of less-invasive medicine by providing a broad and deep portfolio of innovative products, technologies and services across a wide range of medical specialties. The Company’s products help physicians and other medical professionals improve their patients’ quality of life by providing alternatives to surgery that minimize risk, cost, trauma, aftercare and procedure time. For more information, please visit www.bostonscientific.com.