Royal Philips Electronics is reporting that it has installed, at University of California San Francisco Medical Center and St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, Boston, its new Allura Xper FD10 X-ray system, together with the Stereotaxis Niobe system to “improve precise navigation during complex heart surgery.” In case you don’t remember, NIOBE II remote magnetic catheter guidance system by Stereotaxis Inc. (St. Louis, Missouri) was covered by us in our very early days.
Here’s what Philips says about the marriage of these cool technologies:
Pairing the ceiling-mounted Philips Allura Xper FD10 X-ray system together with the Stereotaxis Niobe system using magnetic navigation capabilities, the combined solution provides better reliability, flexibility and improved catheter stability for physicians during complex interventional cardiovascular procedures.
The combination system dramatically enhances care for patients and staff by enabling operators to treat complex lesions with greater confidence and is expected to speed up procedures through precise, accurate and reproducible navigation of catheters and guide wires to targeted locations. Cardiac electrophysiology is the study of the electrical properties of the heart’s cells and tissues. According to the Heart Rhythm Society, electrophysiology is the fastest growing of all the cardiovascular disciplines.
Pairing the ceiling-mounted Philips Allura Xper FD10 X-ray system together with the Stereotaxis Niobe system using magnetic navigation capabilities, the combined solution provides better reliability, flexibility and improved catheter stability for physicians during complex interventional cardiovascular procedures.
Creating a magnetic field through the patient that interacts with a small magnet tip in the catheter, this integrated platform allows operators to precisely align and place catheters and guidewires through the heart and the coronary vasculature. This is necessary for routine procedures such as surgical treatment of rapid rhythm of the heart (supraventricular tachycardia), as well as complex procedures such as treating a fast heartbeat originating in the ventricles (ventricular tachycardia) or irregular muscle contractions in the heart (atrial arrhythmias).Philips’ press release…
Stereotaxis website…
Allura Xper FD10 for Interventional Cardiology product page…
Flashbacks: Stereotaxis Zaps Atrial Fibrillation All Right; Stereotaxis