Dr. Carlos Timaran, a vascular surgeon, marked the launch with the first use of the guidewire on a patient. It features the company’s breakthrough Fiber Optic RealShape (FORS) technology. Timaran performed a complex aortic aneurism repair operation.

Philips said in a news release that introducing the new, FORS-enabled wire gives U.S. clinicians a way to visualize a broader range of catheters. It expands the usage of the technology to patients in the U.S. treated in centers equipped with the company’s LumiGuide technology.

Timaran called the new guidewire a “significant leap forward in endovascular surgery.” He added that it has potential to “revolutionize how we approach minimally invasive vascular interventions.”

LumiGuide allows doctors to see guidewires and catheters in 3D and color as they manipulate them inside the patient’s body. Unlike the typical X-ray imaging that carries significant radiation risks, this method uses minimal radiation.

FORS technology simplifies navigation in tortuous vessels, allowing for quicker, more efficient procedures. Philips says physicians can perform complex cases like aortic repair 37% faster, using 70% less X-ray imaging during the process. The new 160 cm wire joins the 120 cm wire, giving physicians more catheter options.

“LumiGuide unlocks the color visualization of wires, catheters, and patient anatomies in 3D from any angle, including simultaneous angles to generate ‘virtual biplane’ images. Combined with device navigation viewed from angles physically unachievable using conventional C-arm systems, it has already been shown to improve workflows, reduce procedure times, and decrease patient and staff radiation dose,” said Dr. Atul Gupta, chief medical officer for Diagnosis and Treatment at Philips and a practicing interventional radiologist.