Mortar client Avinger’s advanced catheter devices continue to change the way doctors treat Peripheral Artery Disease – an epidemic that effects 8 to 12 million Americans…and often leads to amputation.

This week Avinger announced the enrollment of the first U.S. patient in clinical trials for their newest device, the Ocelot. Not to be confused with midget leopards, the Ocelot is a technological game-changer designed for crossing completely blocked arteries in the legs while simultaneously using real-time intravascular imaging technology called Optical Coherence Tomography. In English, that means it’s a plaque-cutting catheter with a camera the size of a hair at the tip that gives doctors a direct view of what they are doing while they’re cleaning out clogged arteries…and saving patients’ legs.

The Ocelot is just the latest creation by CEO Dr. John B. Simpson, whose technology has so far saved 7,900 limbs. Colleagues call him the “Michael Jordan of cardiology.” Not because he‘s a lousy NBA general manager, but because he’s truly changing the nature of his game.

So cheers to you, Dr. Simpson and the entire Avinger team. The Ocelot is just the latest in a string of successful life-changing tools you’ve created.

To see, rather than read what we’re talking about, enjoy this clip of Dr. Simpson on Little Rock, Arkansas’ Fox News 16. (Don’t worry, the Mortar PR team will be careful talking about hair-sized cameras around Rupert Murdoch’s cronies. We all know how that could end up.)