PAD is a Challenge — Not a Life Sentence

Peripheral artery disease (PAD) is the narrowing or blockage of the vessels that carry blood from the heart to your legs and feet.

It develops over time as plaque or calcium builds up within the peripheral arteries, making them less flexible.

This limits blood flow to the limbs and can lead to leg pain, wounds that don’t heal, and in severe cases, limb-threatening complications.

Peripheral artery disease (PAD) is the narrowing or blockage of the vessels that carry blood from the heart to your legs and feet.

It develops over time as plaque or calcium builds up within the peripheral arteries, making them less flexible.

This limits blood flow to the limbs and can lead to leg pain, wounds that don’t heal, and in severe cases, limb-threatening complications.

Peripheral artery disease (PAD) is the narrowing or blockage of the vessels that carry blood from the heart to your legs and feet.

It develops over time as plaque or calcium builds up within the peripheral arteries, making them less flexible.

This limits blood flow to the limbs and can lead to leg pain, wounds that don’t heal, and in severe cases, limb-threatening complications.

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Concentric Calcium

Forms a uniform ring that encircles the entire inner wall of the artery. This symmetrical pattern narrows the vessel fairly evenly and is typically associated with more stable, gradually progressing disease.

Eccentric Calcium

Builds up unevenly, with heavier deposits concentrated on one side of the artery wall. This asymmetrical pattern is often linked to unstable plaque and may complicate treatment due to the irregular distribution.

Nodular Calcium

Appears as irregular, protruding deposits in the artery’s inner channel. These sharp, rock-like nodules can disrupt blood flow and are often linked to unstable plaque, complicating both diagnosis and treatment.

You Have Different Treatment Options

To treat PAD, blood flow needs to be restored using specialized tools that can break through hardened plaque.

Traditional approaches include balloon angioplasty, which uses inflation pressure to open narrowed arteries. In more difficult cases, atherectomy may be used to mechanically shave down calcium using rotating or grinding devices.

More recently, intravascular lithotripsy (IVL) has emerged as a novel approach to fracture calcium. IVL delivers energy through a balloon catheter, creating controlled cracks in the calcium while minimizing trauma to surrounding tissue.

To treat PAD, blood flow needs to be restored using specialized tools that can break through hardened plaque.

Treatment Option

Concentric Calcium

Eccentric Calcium

Nodular Calcium

Efficacy

Balloon Angioplasty

Limited

Sometimes

Rarely effective

May stretch vessel or injure healthy tissue

Atherectomy

Can help shave down

May work, but higher risk

Less effective for this calcium

May cut into healthy vessel or cause debris

Intravascular Lithotripsy (IVL)

Very effective

Often effective

Fractures calcium while sparing healthy tissue

Concentric Calcium
Balloon Angioplasty
Limited
Concentric Calcium
Balloon Angioplasty
Limited
Concentric Calcium
Balloon Angioplasty
Limited
Concentric Calcium
Balloon Angioplasty
Limited

You Have Different Treatment Options

To treat PAD, blood flow needs to be restored using specialized tools that can break through hardened plaque.

Treatment Option

Concentric Calcium

Eccentric Calcium

Nodular Calcium

Efficacy

Balloon Angioplasty

Limited

Sometimes

Rarely effective

May stretch vessel or injure healthy tissue

Atherectomy

Can help shave down

May work, but higher risk

Less effective for this calcium

May cut into healthy vessel or cause debris

Intravascular Lithotripsy (IVL)

Very effective

Often effective

Fractures calcium while sparing healthy tissue

Concentric Calcium
Balloon Angioplasty
Limited
Concentric Calcium
Balloon Angioplasty
Limited
Concentric Calcium
Balloon Angioplasty
Limited
Concentric Calcium
Balloon Angioplasty
Limited

Pros and Cons of First-Generation IVL

This early form of IVL introduced a new way to treat calcified arteries using acoustic pressure waves to fracture calcium within the vessel wall.

It offered more controlled calcium modification than methods like balloon angioplasty and atherectomy with less risk to surrounding soft tissue. The technology proved especially effective in cases of circumferential or deeply embedded calcium.

However, the design of first-generation IVL narrowly disperses energy within the vessel.

The resulting lack of precision can minimize its effectiveness and may compromise outcomes for eccentric or nodular calcific lesions.

This early form of IVL introduced a new way to treat calcified arteries using acoustic pressure waves to fracture calcium within the vessel wall.

However, the design of first-generation IVL narrowly disperses energy within the vessel.

The resulting lack of precision can minimize its effectiveness and may compromise outcomes for eccentric or nodular calcific lesions.

Pros and Cons of First-Generation IVL

This early form of IVL introduced a new way to treat calcified arteries using acoustic pressure waves to fracture calcium within the vessel wall.

However, the design of first-generation IVL narrowly disperses energy within the vessel.

The resulting lack of precision can minimize its effectiveness and may compromise outcomes for eccentric or nodular calcific lesions.

FastWave is Empowering Physicians with Advanced IVL Technology

Our focus is clear: build upon the established success of IVL technology to enable interventionalists to deliver improved treatments and better outcomes for their patients.

First-Generation IVL

FastWave Artero™

Energy Delivery

Pressure waves fired from fixed points →

Less predictable energy spread

Artero™
Peripheral IVL

Uniform pressure waves that cover the artery evenly

Artero™
Peripheral IVL

Speed of Treatment

Fewer pulses at slower frequency (1–2 Hz)

→ Longer procedures

Artero™
Peripheral IVL

More pulses at faster frequency (4 Hz)

Artero™
Peripheral IVL

Balloon Design

Single-layer balloon → Higher rupture risk

Artero™
Peripheral IVL

Dual-layer balloon

Artero™
Peripheral IVL

Artero™ produces uniform, 360-degree pressure waves across a full 30-pulse cycle, ensuring even energy coverage along and around the diseased vessel.

The system’s frequency capacity enables therapy that is up to twice as fast as previous IVL systems — helping physicians treat their patients more efficiently.

The result is a more predictable and complete approach to calcium modification, especially in long, diffuse, or heavily calcified lesions common in PAD.

Are You a Candidate For Next-Generation IVL? Learn How You Can Take Part in Our Study

FastWave Medical is currently enrolling patients in the [NAME] study, a prospective, multi-center, single-arm clinical investigation evaluating the safety and effectiveness of the Artero™ IVL system in patients diagnosed with PAD who have moderate to severe calcium.

Enrolled patients will receive treatment with the minimally-invasive Artero™ IVL system during an outpatient procedure.

If you answer yes to these questions and are interested in participating in the study, please complete the form below:

Have you been diagnosed with peripheral artery disease (PAD)?
Has your doctor told you that you have calcium buildup in the arteries of your leg(s)?
Do you continue to experience leg pain, fatigue, or trouble walking despite standard treatments?
Are you at least 18 years old and willing to take part in a clinical study?