Imricor Medical Systems has received the CE mark for its Advantage-MR EP Recorder/Stimulator System, a first-of-its-kind magnetic resonance conditional recording system for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-guided electrophysiology (EP) procedures.

The Advantage-MR system, along with Imricor’s Vision-MR Ablation Catheter, allows physicians to perform cardiac ablations under real-time MRI guidance with the potential to improve outcomes and provide safer, more cost-effective treatment – all in an environment that is free of radiation for both the patient and physician.

“Procedures like these have been stuck in X-ray labs since the late 1800s,” said Steve Wedan, Imricor’s president/CEO. “With this news, we’ve taken the first step in moving cardiac ablations out of the X-ray lab and into the 21^st century.

The Advantage-MR EP Recorder/Stimulator System provides the full functionality of an EP recording system and cardiac stimulator within the MRI environment. The Advantage-MR system handles the display and recording of intracardiac electrograms, as well as pacing functions and tip temperature monitoring. When used with a compatible radiofrequency (RF) generator, it can deliver RF energy for ablation procedures.

“MRI is clearly the future of interventional electrophysiology, and Imricor is the key to that future. With MRI, doctors can, for the first time, see the hearts they are working on throughout their procedures; they can see the results of the therapy they deliver; and they can do all this without exposing their patients or themselves to dangerous radiation,” Wedan said. “At Imricor, we are delivering the MRI compatible devices needed to perform these procedures in the MRI lab and, in turn, transforming the field of electrophysiology.”

Today’s $3 billion catheter ablation market is dominated by X-ray guided procedures, but with X-ray imaging, doctors cannot visualize the soft tissues of the heart, meaning they cannot see what they are trying to treat. As a result, they must rely on imperfect surrogates for visualization, disease assessment, and therapy endpoints. As such, the recurrence rate of complex arrhythmias following catheter ablation remains high.

MRI-guided procedures address the fundamental limitations of X-ray-guided ablations. With MRI guidance, physicians can see the unique tissue structure of a patient’s heart during the procedure and individualize the treatment to the patient’s current disease state. In addition, MRI allows physicians to see the immediate results of the therapy they are delivering. This means doctors can assess the quality of the lesions being created and fill gaps in the ablation line during the initial procedure. 
 
Based in Burnsville, Minn., Imricor Medical Systems specializes in developing devices and systems that are compatible with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Watch the video below to learn more about Imricor’s Advantage-MR EP Recorder/Stimulator System: