Manatee Memorial Hospital first in region to use new heart artery balloon device

BRADENTON, Fla. (WWSB) — Manatee Memorial Hospital says it is the first hospital in Southwest Florida to use a newly FDA-approved balloon device designed to treat a recurring narrowing in some patients’ heart arteries.The SELUTION SLR Drug-Eluting Balloon is intended for people whose coronary artery has narrowed inside a previously placed stent, according to the hospital. Stents are small mesh tubes used to help keep an artery open.The hospital said the device offers an alternative to placing another stent in some patients.During the procedure, a cardiologist guides the balloon to the narrowed part of the artery. When inflated, the balloon delivers the medication sirolimus to the artery wall, then is removed, the hospital said. No additional permanent implant is left behind.Dr. James Nguyen, an interventional cardiologist at Manatee Memorial, was the first physician to use the technology at the hospital, according to the hospital.“Instead of automatically adding another layer of metal,