Advanced Energy for Advanced Outcomes™

TRANSCOLLATION™ technology gently seals soft tissue, vessels and bone with a combination of radio-frequency energy and saline. On a molecular level, TRANSCOLLATION technology works by transforming the collagen triple helix structure. Collagen is a connective tissue protein that occurs primarily as extracellular insoluble fibers and is the most abundant protein in the body, accounting for a large part of the skin, tendon, blood vessels, bone, teeth, cornea and other structures, as well as providing the framework for most of the parenchymal organs. Collagens are a family of proteins, each with the basic structure of three polypeptide chains arranged in a triple helix. Collagen types are grouped into four classes: fibrous, network, filamentous and fibril-associated.

Fibrous collagen and the effects of TRANSCOLLATION™ technology

Fibrous collagens are comprised of long, rod-like molecules arranged in a parallel, quarter staggered pattern that form fibers with a characteristic banded pattern. Fibrous collagens include types I, II, III and the minor collagens V and XI. Types I, II and III are known to change shape when exposed to thermal energy. Ligaments and tendons are predominantly type I collagen, cartilage contains predominantly type II, and the vascular system contains both types I and III. TRANSCOLLATION technology's clinical benefits are focused on collagen types I and III.

The mechanism of TRANSCOLLATION™ technology’s effect on collagen

TRANSCOLLATION describes a heat-driven denaturation of the collagen triple helix that occurs when thermally susceptible intramolecular crosslinks along the length of the molecule begin to uncouple at around 70° C. As the intramolecular crosslinks break and the intermolecular crosslinks hold, the long molecular chains shorten and take on a more random orientation. In blood vessels and other biological tubes, the collagen strands shorten in parallel with the dominant direction of fiber orientation, which causes a corresponding swelling in a perpendicular direction. This concurrent shortening and swelling can permanently occlude vessels up to 1 mm in diameter without the charring, smoke and creation of foreign bodies associated with electrocautery.

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