St. Jude Medical (NYSE:STJ) announced Monday that it has launched a new 3D navigation system to evaluate heart and vascular anatomy on recorded fluroscopy images instead of a series of live X-Ray images, thus reducing the patient’s exposure to radiation during cardiac procedures.
Called MediGuide Technology, it is the first and only 3D navigation system for use in the electrophysiology lab, the Minnesota device maker said in a news release. It allows physician to see the exact location and orientation of devices using the MediGuide Technology inside a patient’s heart. It uses tiny sensors embedded in devices such as the MediGuide-Enabled Livewire diagnostic catheter and the COS Excel MediGuide Enabled Guidewireto and provides 3D visualization technology to previously-recorded fluroscopic images in real time.
“MediGuide Technology is the only real-time cardiac navigation and visualization platform that allows physicians to reduce fluoroscopy during cardiac procedures,” said Frank J. Callaghan, president of the St. Jude Medical Cardiovascular and Ablation Technologies Division, in a company statement. “St. Jude Medical continues to be committed to developing technologies that minimize radiation exposure in the EP lab, improve procedural repeatability and increase clinical and economic efficiency.”
Between 1980 and 2006, there was a 700 percent increase in the collective dose received from medical uses of radiation, according to an article published in the Journal of the American Heart Association in 2009.
[Photo Credit: FreeDigitalPhotos user Twobee]
