Stereotaxis Ablation Advantages
An effective and safe enabler in all four chambers of the heart
In interventional medicine, a growing number of hospitals have enhanced care with Stereotaxis, particularly in the electrophysiology lab. With tens of thousands of procedures performed worldwide, Stereotaxis has proven to be an effective and safe enabler for cardiac arrhythmias occurring in all four chambers of the heart, and for a growing body of other cardiovascular interventions. These excellent results are clearly documented in a large and growing body of peer-reviewed journal articles
Magnetic navigation is the perfect solution for the ablation of ventricular tachycardia (VT) due to the ability of the system to facilitate navigation into difficult to reach, trabeculated tissues as well as the system’s capacity for creating extremely detailed anatomic maps without inducing ventricular ectopy. Both antegrade transseptal and retrograde aortic techniques are easily facilitated with the magnetic navigation system.
Several publications have documented the outstanding clinical outcomes of VT ablation with the magnetic navigation system and the magnetic irrigated catheter. Physicians at the world-renowned Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia Institute at St. David’s Hospital reported an 85% freedom from VT at one year after magnetic VT ablation in a group of 110 patients that included both ischemic and non-ischemic etiologies of disease. Dr. Hiroshi Nakagawa from the University of Oklahoma reported at 91% acute success rate and a 72% freedom from VT at one year in a group of 25 non-mappable, scar-related VT patients.
Dr. Arash Arya and his colleagues at the University of Leipzig Heart Center were able to obtain a 100% acute success rate in a group of patients with very difficult arrhythmias who presented with incessant ventricular tachycardia (VT) “storm.” In addition to this excellent success rate, Dr. Arya noted a reduction in patient fluoroscopy exposure when compared to similar patients treated without the Stereotaxis system while maintaining an average overall case time that was identical to their non-magnetic case time.
Clinical data from centers around the world reinforce the value of Stereotaxis in the ablation of complex left-sided arrhythmias such as AF. For example, data from Dr. Xu Chen at the Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen, Denmark showed 95% acute success in a series of 81 patients treated with Stereotaxis’ magnetic irrigated catheter.² Performing standard ablation techniques, the total case time averaged 140 minutes and fluoroscopy time was a remarkable 7 minutes on average. Eighty-nine percent of these patients remained symptom free at one year, and 65% of the patients in this group who underwent instrumented two week monitoring were completely free from arrhythmia.
Additional published data from Prof. Carlo Pappone in Italy demonstrated 100% acute success in a similar patient group³. After 12 months of follow up, 90% of the paroxysmal patients and 80% of the long-term persistent patients in this study were in normal sinus rhythm and were not taking anti-arrhythmic medications. Most importantly, there were no complications noted in either of these patient series.
Arguably some of the biggest challenges to practicing electrophysiologists are pediatric patients and patients who have undergone surgical treatment of congenital heart defects. The small, delicate anatomy and the complex structural abnormalities in these patient groups are particularly well-suited for treatment with Stereotaxis’ advanced tools. Dr. Tamas Szili-Torok and colleagues from the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam used the Stereotaxis system to achieve a 100% acute success rate in 11 pediatric arrhythmia patients and a 92% success rate in adult arrhythmia patients who had undergone surgery for congenital heart defect as children. They concluded that the advanced Stereotaxis navigation tools made these cases very similar to those completed in adults with normal hearts.
