Imricor Medical Systems announces first procedures in clinical study of MR-enabled cardiac ablation products
MINNEAPOLIS, Oct. 9, 2014 -- Imricor Medical Systems, Inc. announced the first three cardiac ablation procedures were completed in the first clinical study that is evaluating the feasibility of their MR-enabled products to treat atrial flutter. Professor Reza Razavi, Head of the Division of Imaging Sciences & Biomedical Engineering, King's College London, is the principal investigator for the study and along with Mark O'Neill, Professor of Cardiac Electrophysiology and Consultant Cardiologist, Guy's and St. Thomas' NHS Trust performed the procedures. The prospective pilot study will enroll up to 15 patients at this center.
The Vision-MR Ablation Catheter and Advantage-MR EP Recorder/Stimulator System are currently being evaluated for the treatment of atrial flutter. The Vision-MR Ablation Catheter looks, feels, and functions like a conventional ablation catheter, but its patented technology makes it uniquely MR-enabled. The Advantage-MR EP Recording/Stimulator System is also MR-enabled to avoid dangerous electromagnetic interactions with the MRI scanner and provide clear intra-cardiac electrograms and interference-free MR images. The system delivers the needed MR-enabled recording and pacing functions. Both products are used in conjunction with the iSuite image guidance platform that is provided by Philips.
"The team at King's College London and St Thomas' Hospital has been thrilled to work alongside Imricor and Philips Research to develop the novel MR-guided ablation system. There have been many technical advances that have gone into this technology in order to create a system suitable for clinical use, and it has performed extremely well in the early phases of clinical trials. This is a groundbreaking study and we believe that there is a great future for MR-guided heart rhythm interventions. Not only is the requirement for x-rays removed, but for the first time the clinician is able to see the detailed anatomy of the heart, in real-time, during the procedure, and the therapeutic ablation lesions that have been created. The impact that such information could have on complex ablation procedures is enormous. We hope that this is a great step forward in the care and treatment of patients with abnormal heart rhythms," said Professor Razavi.
"We are very excited to work with Drs. Razavi and O'Neill and the rest of their team, as well as Philips Research, to make this long awaited dream of MR-guided cardiac ablations a reality. Imricor is the world leader in developing MR-guided interventional products for electrophysiology, and this study marks a quantum step forward for the field," said Steve Wedan, Imricor's President and Chief Executive Officer.
About Imricor Medical Systems
Imricor Medical Systems is a privately held company that specializes in developing devices and systems that are compatible with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Its unique MR-enabled interventional products are designed to provide doctors the ability to perform interventional procedures while taking advantage of the superior soft tissue imaging capabilities of MRI. Imricor is the world leader in the development of MR-enabled devices for electrophysiology applications. Imricor also licenses its technology to help make implanted medical devices compatible with MRI.