What describes the rotablator's tip?

• A. Diamond-shaped egg tip that spins 140,000-190,000 rpm
• B. Balanced cylindrical tip spinning 50,000 rpm
• C. Round smooth tip spinning 10,000 rpm
• D. Hemispherical tip with variable speed 5,000-20,000 rpm

Answer: (A)

The rotablator works by a diamond-coated burr that spins at very high speed to sand away dense calcified plaque. The tip is designed as a diamond-coated, egg-shaped (diamond-shaped egg tip) surface, which provides durable contact and controlled ablation as it rotates. This design, spinning around roughly 140,000 to 190,000 rpm, allows efficient plaque modification while preserving the vessel architecture and minimizing debris and thermal injury with the help of continuous saline flush. Other tip descriptions don’t match how the rotablator actually functions—the combination of a diamond-coated, egg-shaped tip and very high rotational speed is what enables the device to effectively debulk calcified lesions.