Mass General uses Siemens' Axiom Artis dFC to create magnetic navigation system

Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) has taken delivery of Siemens Medical Solutions USA Inc.'s Axiom Artis dFC to create a magnetic navigation system for enhanced accuracy during catheter procedures.

The system integrates Siemens digital fluoroscopic imaging system -- the Axiom Artis dFC flat-panel detector system -- with Stereotaxis Inc.'s Niobe magnetic navigation system to direct and digitally control catheter- and guidewire-based devices along complex paths within the heart and coronary vasculature. The system is designed to help electrophysiologists improve the ease and accuracy of catheter-based procedures to facilitate interventional medicine.

The system uses computer-controlled permanent magnets external to the body for orienting the magnetic tip of specially designed catheters and guidewires. The company adds that the approach -- which allows for 360-degree rotation of the catheter -- has the potential to provide greater precision and better movement. The interventional technique allows physicians at MGH to navigate catheters and guidewires to designated target sites in the heart and coronary vasculature.

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