Devices
Magnetic Catheters
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 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. The current co-developed catheter families are the Celsius® RMT and NaviStar® RMT diagnostic and ablation catheters that are commercially available throughout the world. Both families of catheter are available with solid and irrigated tip electrodes. The NaviStar® family is designed to be used with Biosense Webster's Carto® electro-anatomical mapping systems, which incorporate sophisticated 3-D catheter location sensing technology.
Magnetic Coronary Guidewires
Stereotaxis has developed a suite of proprietary magnetic intravascular guidewires including TITAN® and Pegasus™, suitable for use in interventional cardiology or peripheral vascular 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 vascular interventions.
CARDIODRIVE™ Catheter Advancement System
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.
