DEFENDER®

The Defender carotid filter system is made of braided nitinol and has a low profile.
Physicians can easily maneuver its delivery system across a lesion thanks to its peel-away delivery sheath.
When the filter is opened, it acts as a basket allowing enough blood to flow and at the same time trapping dangerous embolic debries.
The Defender filter has a very low crossing profile (2.2 Fr. - 0.029") that makes passage easy even in case of very severe lesions.
It shows an extendable 0.014" stainless steel core wire that guarantees both flexibility and support.
The guidewire extends approximately 2.5cm beyond the distal end of the filter marker band in the collapsed state to facilitate distal tracking and steering through tortuous vessels and tight lesions. The exposed spring tip of the wire is coated with silicone.
The device's mesh filter basket design allows the filter to fit snugly against vessel walls, even if eccentrically shaped. Consequently all particles dislodged during the procedure are easily captured and the risk of embolization is highly reduced.
The proximal end of the filter contains four large openings (>1800 microns for the 5.5mm filter size, and >2100 microns for the 6.5mm filter size) that allow particulate to enter the filter.
The Steerable Vascular Filter is preloaded into the peel-away delivery sheath 143cm in length.
A key factor of this new device is its steerability and guide-wire torque response which measure the number of revolutions needed to turn the tip of the filter 180 degrees within the sheath.
The Defender presents a 1-to-1 torque response between the proximal and distal portion of the device.
Two rapid-exchange retrival catheters (RX Facilitator Catheter), 4.5 Fr, are available: they are different because their tip shape can be either straight or curved. The curved tip is to recommend in case of tortuous anatomy.
The defender device is compatible with guiding catheters with a minimum 0.070" I.D.