TOPAZ Makes "Top Ten Innovations" List

Austin, TX - The TOPAZ Microdebrider -- designed for use in the treatment of common tendon disorders -- has been selected as one of Podiatry Today's annual collection of top ten "Current and Emerging Innovations."

This year's article, published in the August issue of Podiatry Today, is titled "What the Future Holds for Podiatric Care," and lists ten technologies and medical advancements deemed by the editors to be particularly innovative and promising for the podiatric field. TOPAZ technology -- developed by ArthroCare(R) Corp. -- is included among its selections.

Quoted in the article, Bruce Werber, DPM, a fellow and past president of the American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons, said, "TOPAZ provides us with an incredible tool...for microdebridement of the tendon. The device obviates the need to release the fascia...and requires only a small incision."

The article notes that Dr. Werber has been utilizing the TOPAZ Microdebrider for the past year and has had "very positive results" in an array of different tendon procedures.

The inclusion of TOPAZ in Podiatry Today's list of top ten innovations follows on the heels of two-year study results published in the July edition of Arthroscopy: The Journal of Arthroscopic & Related Surgery titled "Microtenotomy Using a Radiofrequency Probe to Treat Lateral Epicondylitis." Those results showed TOPAZ to be effective when used in the treatment of common tendon disorders.

"We're excited to be included as a part of Podiatry Today's annual 'top ten' list," said Jack Giroux, ArthroCare Sports Medicine's President. "The TOPAZ Microdebrider was designed to be used in the treatment of most tendons throughout the body, and podiatry is a major, promising area for the technology. Following positive study results in a national clinical journal, it's rewarding to see TOPAZ highlighted in a prestigious medical news publication read by yet another group of specialists with which we work."

The TOPAZ Microdebrider is a wand-like device about the diameter of a pencil tip. Through a small incision, generally an inch in length, the physician applies the device to the problem tendon for multiple 500 millisecond intervals of treatment. By combining low temperature radiofrequency energy with saline, a charged plasma gas is formed at the tip of the TOPAZ wand and is precisely directed into and through the damaged tissues. From start to finish, the whole process takes less than 20 minutes.

SOURCE: ArthroCare Corp.