Imricor Medical Systems has recruited first patients in a clinical trial to assess the Vision-MR ablation catheter to treat atrial flutter under real-time MRI guidance.
Sponsored by the Germany’s Leipzig Heart Center, the single-center study will enroll around 35 patients.
Leipzig Heart Center electrophysiology department head Dr Gerhard Hindricks is the principal investigator of the study.
Hindricks said: "We truly believe that ablating in the MRI adds substantial benefits to our standard procedures.
"For example, during one procedure, we were able to visualize with MR an abnormality in the patient’s heart and modify our catheter placement to successfully complete the ablation."
When used with the Advantage-MR EP recorder/stimulator system, the Vision-MR catheter enables physicians to carry out cardiac ablations under MRI guidance.
Physicians can individualize the ablation for each patient’s unique cardiac structure and substrate with real-time MRI.
In addition, they can evaluate lesion quality and fill gaps in ablation lines during the initial procedure.
Imricor is engaged in developing devices that are compatible with MRI. The firm’s MR-enabled products will help doctors to carry out interventional procedures while taking advantage of the soft tissue imaging capabilities of MRI.