Hongpu Medical Completes Pivotal Clinical Implantation of Probranch® TIPS Heparin-Coated Venous Covered Stent

Recently, Shanghai Hope Medical (Probranch)^®TIPS Heparin-Coated Venous Stent Graft Completes Final Pre-Market Clinical Implantation

This study is the first prospective, multi-center, single-group target value clinical trial in China to evaluate the efficacy and safety of TIPS venous covered stents in treating portal hypertension and its complications. Led by Academician Gaojun Teng, with the Affiliated Zhongda Hospital of Southeast University as the lead unit, 12 authoritative clinical centers across China participated together, completing the trial in nine months. Currently, experts from various centers have fully recognized the safety of this product. They also noted that a broader range of specifications provides more options for clinical patients, better meeting the needs of both patients and surgeons in terms of improving long-term stent patency rates and achieving more reasonable control of portal vein pressure gradients.

Postoperative Angiography

Portal hypertension is an inevitable result when the course of liver cirrhosis progresses to a certain extent, accompanied by the rupture of esophageal and gastric varices, leading to massive upper gastrointestinal bleeding, followed by a series of complications such as hepatic encephalopathy, hepatorenal syndrome, and ascites. TIPS (Transjugular Intrahepatic Portosystemic Shunt) is an interventional treatment for portal hypertension. Compared with other surgical treatments, this procedure has a high success rate, with an effective hemostasis rate of over 90%. China has more than 7 million patients with liver cirrhosis, and the number of patients is continuously increasing, with approximately 330,000 deaths annually related to portal hypertension caused by liver cirrhosis.

Currently, all TIPS stents used by patients in China are imported products. Shanghai Hope Medical Devices Co., Ltd., incorporating the opinions of clinical experts and the actual needs of domestic patients, has developed the first domestically produced Probranch® TIPS surgery dedicated stent product, achieving a breakthrough from 0 to 1 for Chinese products.

Relying on Hope Medical's existing technology platforms such as covered stents and heparin coatings, another domestically first-of-its-kind heparin-coated covered stent product specifically for dialysis access is currently in the clinical enrollment phase. It is expected to complete pre-market clinical implantation soon. In the future, Hope Medical will continue to focus on the development of more innovative products, continuously enriching and perfecting the peripheral vascular intervention product line, creating high-end medical device products that belong to China, and benefiting more patients.

Teng Gaojun

Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chief Physician, Doctoral Supervisor

Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Medicine, Chief Physician, Professor, and Doctoral Supervisor. President of Zhongda Hospital Affiliated to Southeast University, Director of the Interventional Treatment Center, and Director of the Jiangsu Provincial Key Laboratory of Molecular Imaging and Functional Imaging. With nearly 40 years of clinical work in medical imaging and interventional therapy, he has invented multiple new interventional devices, techniques, and theories. He has made significant academic contributions to the treatment of hepatobiliary tumors, esophageal cancer, vertebral fractures, aortic dissection, and other diseases, which have been incorporated into clinical guidelines both domestically and internationally. In recent years, for advanced liver cancer, he innovatively invented or developed various vascular intervention and ablation minimally invasive technologies, led the formulation of TACE clinical guidelines and international expert consensus, initiated the Multidisciplinary Alliance for Liver Cancer Intervention, and promoted the establishment of a comprehensive treatment system for advanced liver cancer centered on interventional minimally invasive techniques.

Led projects including the 973 Program of the Ministry of Science and Technology (as Chief Scientist) and the Ministry of Science and Technology’s transformative technology programs, won three Second Prizes of National Science and Technology Progress Award, published over 200 papers, and been granted more than 10 domestic and international invention patents.

President of the Interventional Physicians Branch of the Chinese Medical Doctor Association, former President of the Asia-Pacific Society of Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology (APSCVIR). Fellow of the Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR) and the Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiological Society of Europe (CIRSE); recipient of the highest honor awards from CIRSE (2015), SIR (2017), and APSCVIR (2019). Recipient of the Chinese Physician Award (2018), and honored as an expert with outstanding contributions by the Ministry of Health (2006).