Conventional manual catheters are designed to be operated mechanically from their proximal, or back end. They are necessarily quite stiff to allow for steering through a series of cables. In contrast, because Stereotaxis’ proprietary catheters are controlled directly at their working end by a magnetic field, they are extremely soft and flexible. This inherently atraumatic design is likely to greatly reduce the risk of perforation or damage to heart tissue or vessel walls.

The GentleTouch™ magnetic catheters used with the Stereotaxis Magnetic Navigation System are capable of exerting a variable and finely controllable contact pressure, or force at the working tip. Optimized contact enables accurate recording of electrograms and successful therapy delivery.

Pursuant to our alliance with Biosense Webster, we have co-developed a range of electrophysiology mapping and ablation catheters for use with our system. These include magnetically navigable diagnostic and ablation catheters and also magnetically navigable mapping and ablation catheters that incorporate Biosense Webster’s sophisticated 3-D catheter location sensing technology. The first of these co-developed catheters are the CELSIUS® RMT 4mm and NAVISTAR™ RMT 4mm diagnostic and ablation catheters that are commercially available in Europe, Canada and the U.S. We are also co-developing with Biosense Webster a range of 8mm and irrigated tip diagnostic and ablation catheters. In each case we are developing these catheters in both magnetically navigable versions and in magnetically navigable versions that also incorporate Biosense Webster’s catheter location sensing technology.

Stereotaxis has developed a suite of proprietary magnetic coronary guidewires including CRONUS®, ASSERT®, and TITAN®, suitable for use in interventional cardiology procedures for the introduction and placement of over-the-wire therapeutic devices, such as biventricular pacing leads used in cardiac resynchronization therapy or stents used in percutaneous coronary interventions.

Where the physician is conducting the procedure from the adjacent control room, the CARDIODRIVE automated catheter advancer is used to advance and retract a catheter in the patient’s heart while the NIOBE® magnets precisely steer the working tip of the device. This allows the physician and clinical staff to perform an electrophysiology procedure from the control room, greatly minimizing their x-ray radiation exposure.

In non-magnetic procedures, physicians are exposed to X-ray radiation throughout the procedure. Although they wear lead-lined protective aprons, their level of exposure to X-rays can be high. These aprons are also heavy, often resulting in orthopedic injuries over time.