The Stereotaxis Magnetic Navigation System has been developed to provide substantial financial, clinical and safety value to hospitals and the patients for whom they care. Stereotaxis’ value for hospitals can be broadly divided into three categories:

 

• Efficiency in Lab Workflow
• Safety for Patients, Physicians and Hospital Employees

 

All of these results in an excellent value for the investment in Stereotaxis technology as described below.

Efficiency

The Niobe system has been demonstrated to reduce catheter ablation time for cardiac ablation procedures (figure 1), reduce left ventricular lead placement times for cardiac resynchronization therapy device implants (figure 2), and reduce time for navigation in complex and tortuous coronary anatomy during PCI (percutaneous coronary intervention) procedures (Data on File – Stereotaxis, Inc).

 

 

 

 

We believe the primary reason for more efficient procedures is that complex navigation represents one of the biggest reasons for abnormally long and unpredictable procedures. Using Stereotaxis technology, procedure times can become more standardized and predictable. This can result in:

 

• Better scheduling and more predictability of catheterization lab utilization time
• Better scheduling of catheterization lab personnel and reduced overtime
• Improvements in overall lab workflow
• Improved lab throughput – including potential to leverage current lab space for a longer period of time without expansion
  

 

Such efficiencies become critical in being able to handle the cost-containment and time demands on hospitals today, particularly in the very mission-critical field of cardiac services.

 

Safety

The Stereotaxis system is designed with inherent safety advantages such as reduction in radiation exposure resulting from more precise and accurate navigation using magnetic tip control of catheters and guidewires. Better navigation results in less “trial and error” catheter and guidewire manipulation. Such manipulation requires X-ray/fluoroscopy visualization. Stereotaxis also has direct benefits to physicians and hospital staff from the reduced need to wear heavy lead aprons/vests for radiation protection. One study of cardiologists found that 53% had or have back or neck pain problems resulting in a mean of 2.5 days of missed work in a year (Ross et al. Am J. Cardiol 1997). With remote procedures that can be performed with Stereotaxis technology, the hospital staff can be away from the radiation environment for significant parts of the procedure, reducing their exposure even further (figure 3).

 

Additionally, the "gentle touch" characteristics of magnetically-enabled electrophysiology catheters enable physicians to navigate accurately and rapidly with less potential for complications such as cardiac perforation. In over 10,000 procedures, magnetic catheters have never been directly attributed to causing cardiac perforation. On the other hand, conventional manual catheters carry a perforation risk in complex ablation procedures of up to 2.5% [Bunch et al. J Cardiovascular Electrophysiology Nov 2005].

These safety advantages can result in:

• Reduced risk of long term back and neck injuries
  • Less need to wear heavy lead aprons for radiation protection
• Potentially reduced risk for heart perforation or other damage
  • GentleTouch™ catheters apply lower force on the heart wall
• Ability to perform and complete more procedures due to the higher safety tolerance

In addition, Stereotaxis partners with hospitals to provide value-added services to enhance the return on their investment. Such services include:

 

• Participating in and supporting local hospital marketing efforts
• Enabling physicians to better access their referral base
• Working with cath lab staff to help develop new and better workflow for the whole lab
• Providing clinical support and detailed training to make procedures more successful
• Consumer focused cooperative advertising campaign to increase awareness of the benefits of remote magnetic procedures

 

 

 

 

The following graph provides a typical return on investment from a medium sized hospital taking advantage of both competitive benefits and efficiencies:

 

To speak to a Stereotaxis representative, please click here

 

 

In order for a hospital to recognize the full economic benefit of the our products and technology, it is critical to ensure physicians and cath lab staff are appropriately trained in using our system. Therefore, we have dedicated significant resources to our training and education program. Specific activities we are currently utilizing include onsite training, live-case experience, instruction conducted by physician proctors, and the use of reference sites as training centers. Initial feedback indicates that for many procedures, including cardiac ablation, the learning curve for our system is substantially shorter than manual techniques that have been developed over an experience base of thousands of procedures.

 

 

Ensuring appropriate efficiencies in cath lab volumes and workflow requires stable technology and strong service and support. Stereotaxis provides expert technical, clinical and service support to assist physicians, other technical and clinical staff and hospital administrators with any questions or issues that may arise.