LeMaitre succeeded in treating the patient with this invention, leading to further efforts to improve the technology between 1981 and 1984. LeMaitre was so pleased with the success of this new device that he spent the next two years attempting to interest medical product companies in producing it. When none agreed to do so, he mortgaged his house and started his own company, LeMaitre Vascular, in 1986, to introduce the LeMaitre Valvulotome to his colleagues. That same year, the invention was approved by the Food and Drug Administration. LeMaitre also served as president of the medical staff at Holy Family Hospital in Methuen, Massachusetts from 1988 to 1992. In the ensuing years, LeMaitre's son, George W. LeMaitre, joined the company and helped grow it from a family-owned company to a publicly held global corporation. A 2005 profile described LeMaitre Vascular as a $30.5 million company with about 200 employees and "reporting explosive growth".
