Tonsil ops will be bloodless

Jan B. Wade · #1 (**permalink**) 10-04-2004, 03:29 PM

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/s...309773,00.html

Tonsil ops will be bloodless

Heather Tomlinson
Wednesday September 22, 2004
The Guardian

A new type of surgical "scalpel" that cuts without causing bleeding will be launched this year by the small British medical devices firm Gyrus Group.

The firm is targeting the market for tonsil and adenoid removal with its "Plasmacision" surgical instruments. The operations, commonly done on children, can be complicated by excessive bleeding.

Gyrus's "bloodless" cutting tool will be on sale in the US this year and should be available in Britain in the first half of next year.

The tool acts like a scalpel but cuts and seals the wound. It uses different frequencies of radio waves to sear the flesh. "As you cut it also seals simultaneously," said Roy Davis, Gyrus's chief operating officer.

Other medical devices companies have instruments that cut and seal, but Gyrus says the competitors are good at either one or the other. American health care group Johnson & Johnson produces the "harmonic scalpel", the leader in the market, which uses ultrasound to cut and seal.

Gyrus Group is a small company, valued at about Â£200m on the stock market, specialising in surgical instruments in the gynaecological and ear, nose and throat markets. It has a product that allows keyhole hysterectomies. Yesterday it reported first half profits of Â£231,000 compared with a loss of Â£303,000 the year before. Revenues rose 14% to Â£42.5m. When the change in the dollar exchange rate is excluded, sales rose 26%. The company's results are heavily affected by the dollar because most of its sales are in the US, but executive chairman Brian Steer said it did not intend to sell out to an American firm.

"We haven't put a 'for sale' sign outside just yet," he said. The company is looking for small acquisitions. "We are continually on the lookout because critical mass is important and we would like to be bigger." The company said it is confident it will increase percentage sales by the high teens in the medium term.

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Tonsil ops will be bloodless

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