May 13 2010
BIOTRONIK, a pioneer of technologies relating to remote monitoring and a prominent manufacturer of implantable cardiac gadgets, has recently announced the launch of the TactiCath catheter that is an Endosense company product.
This product, an irrigated RF based contact force type of ablation catheter, incorporates features that provide a major enhancement in ablation therapy for patients having Atrial Fibrillation (AF) and cardiac arrhythmias.
BIOTRONIK has initiated the TactiCath launch successfully with simultaneous cases in Europe’s leading heart centers, including Professor Dipen Shah, HUG Geneva, Dr. Juergen Schreieck with the Tuebingen University and Professor Richard Schilling from St. Bartholomew’s Hospital in London, UK.
According to Professor Schilling his team was able to perform two live case transmissions through the TactiCath successfully during the Atrial Fibrillation’s third International Advanced Workshop. Dr. Schreieck explained further that the capability for sensing the contact force will transform the paradigm in the manner in which ablation therapies are planned and executed by electrophysiologists, resulting in enhanced patient outcomes. This new technology represents a major achievement for electrophysiology. He clarified that this tool ensures dependable and consistent RF application and has the capability to lower the currently high AF ablation redo rate which is not acceptable.
The second generation TactiCath gadget is based on a strong scientific background that was established through its clinical and preclinical research program’s excellent results. The CE mark that was awarded for the TOCCATA trial has established the gadget’s effective performance and safety features and has demonstrated that the contact force varies to a great extent from one ablation site to another ablation site and also from operator to operator.
The gadget has increased the expectation that contact force technology will be able enhance an AF ablation procedures’ outcome. The EFFICAS study series of Endosense will be initiated in May for demonstrating the utilization of the contact force control while cardiac ablation is done with the TactiCath and prove that it offers better outcomes in comparison to ablations conducted without force sensing.
The ProFORCE registry will commence during the product launch and will offer sturdy post market surveillance along with observational data for a maximum of 2000 patients who will be provided treatment using the TactiCath catheter. The launch will also study the impact and the utilization of contact force monitoring during the process of catheter ablation.
Source: http://www.biotronik.com