The FDA has approved Abbott's Xience Xpedition everolimus-eluting coronary stent system, which the company is launching immediately in the U.S. The Xience Xpedition features a new stent delivery system and a larger size matrix.

Abbott's Xience drug-eluting stents, including the newly approved Xience Xpedition, are approved for direct stenting, a technique in which the stent system is not preceded by another device (such as a balloon dilatation catheter) to prepare the lesion. 

Xience Xpedition will be available in the largest size matrix in the U.S. market, with both rapid exchange and over-the-wire configurations, according to the Abbott Park, Ill.-based company. Xience Xpedition has diameters ranging from 2.25 mm to 4 mm, including a 3.25 mm diameter, and lengths from 8 mm to 38 mm.

Xience Xpedition is available in the U.S., Europe, the Middle East and parts of Asia.