Philips Reveals SmartIQ Tool to Cut Coronary X-ray Dose

Philips has announced SmartIQ, a breakthrough coronary imaging technology for its Azurion image-guided therapy.

SmartIQ was designed to address the trade-off between image quality and radiation exposure for patients and clinical staff. It seeks to give clinicians exceptional image quality so they can see what they need, while offering reassurance that X-ray dose and contrast levels are optimized.

The technology builds on Philips’ ClarityIQ platform, which has been associated with radiation exposure reductions between 23% and 83%, depending on the clinical area. The company’s ongoing RADIQAL trial is also evaluating SmartIQ’s impact on radiation dose compared to ClarityIQ while keeping procedural performance. The study has reached 60% of total enrollment and completed enrollment at European sites. Final study completion and results are expected soon.

SmartIQ includes and ultra-low dose protocol for coronary procedures that uses over 50% less radiation dose compared to the lowest dose settings available with ClarityIQ. The setting aims to allow acquisition of coronary cine runs at fluoroscopy dose levels, depending on system and clinical conditions.

“For too long, clinicians have had to choose between image quality and radiation dose during coronary procedures,” said Mark Stoffels, business leader of Image-Guided Therapy Systems at Philips. “With our breakthrough SmartIQ technology, we believe that trade-off no longer has to define coronary imaging. This is not an incremental step forward—it represents one of Philips’ boldest advances yet in helping clinicians see what they need while aiming to further reduce exposure for patients and clinical teams.”

Earlier this month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted 510(k) clearance for the company’s Smart Fit TorsoCardiac 1.5T coil, a lightweight and flexible MR coil designed to support high-quality imaging while improving efficiency and patient comfort.