(b)(4).The device was not returned for analysis; however, the complaint investigation determined the reported shaft separation was potentially related to manufacturing issues associated with the protective sheath.On march 14, 2017, abbott vascular decided to initiate a voluntary field action for some sizes and lots of the nc trek family of dilatation catheters for difficulty to remove sheath.If excessive force is required to remove the sheath and the unit is still used, it is possible to damage the unit, including stretching of the seals, which may lead to detachment of device components.Abbott vascular performed a comprehensive investigation which included device analysis for the returned devices, manufacturing evaluation and trend analysis.The root cause identification was complicated by the fact that users were describing multiple symptoms when reporting the complaints.To date, the frequency of worldwide reported events for difficulties removing the protective balloon sheath, inflation and deflation has reached an actionable limit, thus abbott vascular communicated the voluntary field action to the fda on march 17, 2017 [medwatch # 2024168-2017-02310].Corrective action has been implemented per site operating procedures.The product will continue to be trended.The abbott internal recall number is 2024168-3/14/2017-002-r.
|