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Second-generation robotic system yields benefits for operators
WASHINGTON — At TCT 2016, Corindus Vascular Robotics demonstrated a second-generation vascular robotic system for PCI, which recently received 510(k) clearance from the FDA.
While the first-generation system gave physicians the ability to control and manipulate wires and balloons, with the second-generation system (CorPath GRX), they can readjust guide catheters, can perform more complex cases with deeper guide catheter penetration, can make multiple movements with devices and can guide catheter manipulation, Corindus CEO Mark Toland said in an interview with Cardiology Today’s Intervention.
Additionally, Toland said, the No. 1 benefit is reduced radiation exposure.
“You can work for 20 years robotically and it equals 1 year of radiation manually,” Toland said. “The accumulative effect of that is significant.”
Additional benefits for physicians include no longer having to wear lead vests, which previous research has shown causes orthopedic strain on 42% of interventional cardiologists.
Because of the precision measurement capabilities and enhanced visualization, procedures with the new system require less fluoroscopy time, use less contrast and use fewer stents, he said.
“We all know that less metal is better in patients,” Toland said. “They're using less stents per case and that helps the hospital save money.”
While attending the demonstration of the new system at TCT, William Lombardi, MD, medical director of complex coronary artery therapies and associate clinical professor of medicine at the University of Washington in Seattle, told Cardiology Today’s Intervention that the FDA clearance is important evolutionary step for both patients and physicians.
“To me, we do our profession basically like we did 40 years ago. You think about the evolution of the tape recorder and of phones and we've really done nothing to use technology in a meaningful way to help us better. Our cancer rates are half a percent higher than the population, our orthopedic injury rates are four times,” Lombardi said. “Everybody's had back surgery or cervical neck injuries, so why haven't we evolved and why haven't we focused on technologies. Any product that can [expose us to] less radiation and less time standing in lead, that's going to be something that's helpful.”– by Dave Quaile
Disclosure: Lombardi reports no relevant financial disclosures. Toland is an employee of Corindus.
