Amsterdam, Eindhoven – Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA) and Catharina Hospital (Eindhoven, The Netherlands) today signed an agreement for the installation of Philips’ advanced medical technologies in Catharina Hospital’s new cardiovascular center, which is currently under construction and due to open its doors in mid-2016. The agreement will give Catharina Hospital access to the latest technologies for the image-guided minimally invasive treatment of patients with cardiovascular disease. The technology partnership will help the hospital to strengthen its position as the Netherlands' leading specialist referral and treatment center for this patient group.

Every year thousands of people are referred to the cardiovascular center at Catharina Hospital, and this number is rapidly increasing. Therefore, the hospital is expanding its facilities by building a large new center where all its treatment activities will be concentrated, making it possible to provide integrated care for the diagnosis and treatment of patients. The aim of the new center is to offer personalized treatment, with short access times, and high levels of quality, cost efficiency and patient satisfaction.

The Catharina Hospital cardiovascular center, which will be the largest in the Netherlands, is being equipped by Philips with five complete advanced interventional rooms and two hybrid ORs (the combination of a conventional sterile operating room and a room for minimally-invasive image-guided treatment - often referred to as ‘the operating room of the future’). All of the rooms will be equipped with the latest innovations in interventional imaging and clinical IT solutions for the latest types of image-guided treatment.

“The cardiovascular center at Catharina Hospital is being transformed into a specialist top clinical center where, as part of close partnerships with other hospitals, people from all over the south of the Netherlands can be treated using the very latest image-guided procedures for cardio-vascular disease,” said Piet Batenburg, CEO of Catharina Hospital. “In Philips, we have a strong and flexible technology partner to help us realize our ambitions.”

Cardiologist Lukas Dekker added: “The new technology will enable the new cardiovascular center to focus even more on its key areas: innovation and quality of care. We want to lead the way in providing the latest types of treatment, such as very local image-guided procedures that minimize damage to surrounding healthy tissue during the treatment of cardiac arrhythmias and the replacement of heart valves.”

“We are especially proud that the largest cardiovascular center in the Netherlands is partnering with us and that Philips is able to support them in the strategic transformation they are going through,” said Henk Valk, General Manager of Philips Healthcare Benelux. “What's more, together we make a strong team for furthering the clinical and technological development of new types of treatment, with the result that more patients – including those with the most complex conditions – will benefit from the significant advantages that image-guided treatments have to offer, such as less damage to healthy surrounding tissue and shorter recovery times.”

All of the interventional rooms will be equipped with Philips' technology that reduces the amount of X-ray radiation used during procedures to 83% of that previously required, without adversely affecting image quality. Both patients and staff will benefit greatly from this X-ray dose reduction.

The clinical IT being installed includes, among other things, live 3D navigation solutions such as Philips' EP Navigator, HeartNavigator and EchoNavigator. These solutions combine 3D imaging with X-ray imaging to give doctors better insight during different types of treatment.

About Royal Philips
Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA) is a diversified health and well-being company, focused on improving people's lives through meaningful innovation in the areas of Healthcare, Consumer Lifestyle and Lighting. Headquartered in the Netherlands, Philips posted 2014 sales of EUR 21.4 billion and employs approximately 106,000 employees with sales and services in more than 100 countries. The company is a leader in cardiac care, acute care and home healthcare, energy efficient lighting solutions and new lighting applications, as well as male shaving and grooming and oral healthcare. News from Philips is located at www.philips.com/newscenter.