Luther Gets Patent on New Heart Device

Santa Ana-based Luther Medical Products Inc. said it has received a patent for a new angioplasty device designed to remove built-up plaque from human arteries.

Unlike the conventional balloon method, which compresses plaque against arterial walls, the Luther device actually removes plaque, according to Ron Luther, company president and inventor of the device.

Because clogged arteries are a leading cause of heart attacks, the market for angioplasty is growing rapidly and now is estimated at about $200 million a year, said Pieter Halter, editor of Biomedical Business International, a Tustin-based journal. By 1990, he said, the market should expand to more than $600 million a year.

Luther said that it will take about $1 million in capital to develop his company’s device, which would require human clinical trials before Food and Drug Administration approval could be granted. So far, one local company, which Luther declined to name, has expressed interest in the device.