These are non-compliant balloons equipped with three to four microsurgical atherotomes (blades) bonded longitudinally to the exterior surface. Upon inflation, these atherotomes concentrate the dilating force, creating discrete, controlled incisions in the fibrotic or calcified plaque. This scoring mechanism permits vessel expansion at lower inflation pressures, mitigating indiscriminate barotrauma to healthy tissue. Crucially, the blades anchor the balloon into the plaque, preventing "melon-seeding" or longitudinal slippage that frequently causes severe edge dissections during the dilation of heavily calcified, fibrocalcific, or non-dilatable lesions with conventional non-compliant balloons.
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