Oct 13 2015
Corindus Vascular Robotics today announced the formation of a joint robotic-assisted percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) research and clinical program.
The program utilizes the company’s CorPath®System, the first and only FDA-cleared medical device to provide robotic-assisted precision to coronary PCI procedures while protecting hospital employees from occupational radiation exposure and orthopedic stress and strain.
Mayo Clinic physicians are using robotic technology to help patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) and initiating collaborative research projects to enhance the use of robotic technology to improve patient care as well as provider safety. The research at Mayo Clinic will be led by Gurpreet S. Sandhu, M.D., Ph.D, a Mayo Clinic cardiologist, and Director, Dr. Earl Wood Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory.
In April of 2015, the Journal of the American College of Cardiology published research highlighting the occupational health hazards of working in interventional laboratories based on research conducted by investigators at Mayo Clinic. Amongst the concerns were potential musculoskeletal and back injuries to providers from wearing lead-lined protective garments in hospital catheterization laboratories.
"The occupational hazards in this field can be devastating to people. Vascular robotics provide the biggest change to cath lab procedures in 30 years and is transforming the environment by reducing radiation exposure and spinal stresses to physicians and providing robotic precision of interventional device manipulation," said David Handler, President and CEO of Corindus. "Collaboration between Corindus and leading physicians and scientists is an important and exciting step toward accelerating the progress currently being made by robotic technology in the cardiology field."
Today, interventional procedures performed in hospital cath labs are a leading source of radiation exposure for medical personnel and has been linked to the development of cataracts, cancer, and brain and thyroid diseases. The CorPath System allows interventional cardiologists to perform procedures in a protected cockpit just a few feet away from the patient bed side. Seated in this radiation-protected cockpit, the physician uses intuitive digital controls to robotically advance guidewires, angioplasty balloons and stents through coronary arteries.
Source: http://www.corindus.com/