Endosense SA signed a deal with Siemens AG’s (NYSE:SI) healthcare unit to development cardiac ablation visualization software using its TactiCath "force-sensing" catheter for arrhythmia treatment.
The Geneva-based company’s TactiCath device gives cardiologists "a real-time, objective measure of contact force" during catheter ablation procedures, according to the company.
The goal of the collaboration is to combine the Endosense system with Siemens Healthcare’s 3D cardiac imaging products to create software that enables electrophysiologists to visualize catheter tip to tissue force within a three-dimensional heart model during ablation procedures, the companies said.
"We believe optimization of catheter tip-to-tissue contact force bears huge potential to improve effectiveness and efficiency of electrophysiology ablation procedures. However, it is important to visualize this new parameter in relation to the 3D anatomy of the heart and, if available, planning data," Siemens Interventional X-ray business director Martin Ostermeier said in prepared remarks.
Cardiologists use the Tacticath for both atrial fibrillation and supraventricular tachycardia in Europe, where it received CE Mark approval in May 2009, but the device does not have regulatory approval in the United States.
Endosense launched a clinical study on the Tacticath dubbed “TOCCASTAR” to examine its effectiveness and safety for the treatment of symptomatic paroxysmal atrial fibrillation at the Prague-based Na Homolce Hospital on Jan. 12.
