Teleflex Announces the Limited Market Release of the Wattson Temporary Pacing Guidewire

Company expands structural heart portfolio and begins the limited market release of a bipolar temporary pacing guidewire intended to introduce and position catheters and other interventional devices within the chambers of the heart while transmitting an electrical signal from an external pulse generator to the heart

WAYNE, Pa., April 30, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Teleflex Incorporated (NYSE: TFX), a leading global provider of medical technologies, today announced that the Wattson Temporary Pacing Guidewire limited market release has commenced at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. The first cases were performed by Dr. Tamim Nazif, Director of Clinical Research, Dr. Susheel Kodali, Professor of Medicine and Director of the Structural Heart and Valve Center, and Dr. Isaac George, Surgical Director of the Heart Valve Center.

Featuring a simple design to create procedural efficiencies, the Wattson Temporary Pacing Guidewire offers dual functionality, supporting both valve delivery and ventricular bipolar pacing during structural heart procedures, including transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) and balloon aortic valvuloplasty (BAV). The device offers a procedural alternative designed to avoid potential complications¹, steps¹, and costs² associated with traditional right ventricular pacing. From its flexible distal pigtail shape to its multiple electrode, bipolar design, the Wattson Temporary Pacing Guidewire is engineered to help reduce the risk of ventricular perforation while providing confidence in capture during rapid pacing.

“We are thrilled that our team at Columbia University Irving Medical Center was selected for the Wattson Temporary Pacing Guidewire limited market release and are proud to have completed the first TAVR procedures with this important new device,” said Dr. Tamim Nazif, Director of Clinical Research for Columbia Interventional Cardiovascular Care, Director of the Interventional Cardiology Fellowship Program, and assistant professor in medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. “The Wattson Temporary Pacing Guidewire facilitated minimalist TAVR procedures with safe and reliable LV pacing throughout our first two days of cases, and we are eager to continue to use it moving forward.”