GE HealthCare is interfacing Imricor's cardiac EP ablation technology with its MR scanners.
GE HealthCare, Imricor bring real-time MR imaging to cardiac ablations
January 30, 2023
by John R. Fischer, Senior Reporter
GE HealthCare is integrating real-time MR imaging for cardiac electrophysiology ablation into its MR scanners by interfacing Imricor’s Advantage-MR EP Recorder/Stimulator and Northstar-MR 3D Mapping System.
Providers with GE HealthCare MR systems will be able to perform cardiac EP ablation procedures using Imricor’s catheters and other disposable devices, with the Advantage-MR EP Recorder/Stimulator System allowing them to use both the EP recording and a cardiac stimulator during the procedure.
“Imricor’s innovative technology has the potential to bring significant benefit to a large number of cardiac arrhythmia patients,” said Anja Brau, general manager of GE HealthCare MR clinical solutions and research collaborations, in a statement.
The Advantage-MR EP Recorder/Stimulator System enables users to visualize soft tissues of the heart instead of relying on imperfect surrogates for visualization, disease analysis and therapy endpoints, allowing treatments to be individualized and applied to the patient depending on the state of their disease. It also reduces the recurrence rate of complex arrhythmias following catheter ablation.
The solution does this by connecting tracking coils in its Vision-MR catheters to a compatible tracking interface that connects to and allows the MR scanner to track the location of these devices.
The NorthStar-MR 3D Mapping System automates 3D mapping for complex ablation procedures.
“The addition of GE HealthCare will give physicians and hospitals significantly more flexibility to use the MR hardware of their choice, when providing real-time iCMR ablations for their patients,” said Imricor’s CEO Steve Wedan.
The collaboration was made as part of a Memorandum of Understanding.
In the short-term, the combination will allow users with GE HealthCare MR scanners to participate in clinical trials studying the treatment of heart conditions in real time in the interventional cardiac MR environment (iCMR) with cardiac ablation.
The long-term aim of the partnership is to offer providers a broader selection of MR scanners when performing interventional cardiac MR procedures.
Providers with GE HealthCare MR systems will be able to perform cardiac EP ablation procedures using Imricor’s catheters and other disposable devices, with the Advantage-MR EP Recorder/Stimulator System allowing them to use both the EP recording and a cardiac stimulator during the procedure.
“Imricor’s innovative technology has the potential to bring significant benefit to a large number of cardiac arrhythmia patients,” said Anja Brau, general manager of GE HealthCare MR clinical solutions and research collaborations, in a statement.
The Advantage-MR EP Recorder/Stimulator System enables users to visualize soft tissues of the heart instead of relying on imperfect surrogates for visualization, disease analysis and therapy endpoints, allowing treatments to be individualized and applied to the patient depending on the state of their disease. It also reduces the recurrence rate of complex arrhythmias following catheter ablation.
The solution does this by connecting tracking coils in its Vision-MR catheters to a compatible tracking interface that connects to and allows the MR scanner to track the location of these devices.
The NorthStar-MR 3D Mapping System automates 3D mapping for complex ablation procedures.
“The addition of GE HealthCare will give physicians and hospitals significantly more flexibility to use the MR hardware of their choice, when providing real-time iCMR ablations for their patients,” said Imricor’s CEO Steve Wedan.
The collaboration was made as part of a Memorandum of Understanding.
In the short-term, the combination will allow users with GE HealthCare MR scanners to participate in clinical trials studying the treatment of heart conditions in real time in the interventional cardiac MR environment (iCMR) with cardiac ablation.
The long-term aim of the partnership is to offer providers a broader selection of MR scanners when performing interventional cardiac MR procedures.