Philips Healthcare (6000) is showcasing their technologies within six separate modalities, along with a portfolio of products designed to reduce door-to-balloon times.

In order to reduce door-to-balloons times, Philips is displaying a line of products to meet the AHA/ACC recommended guidelines of 90 minutes for patients undergoing STEMI:

• For pre-hospital, or discovery, its HeartStart MRx Monitor/Defibrillator allows hospitals to organize their resources, including activating the cath lab, before patients arrive.
• For emergency departments, or diagnosis, Philips ECG Transfer Station receives the current ECGs from the MRx and makes it available to ED staff, as well as to off-site cardiologists via secure email, PDA or fax. The staff can also retrieve previous ECGs from the Philips TraceMasterVue ECG management solution. Also, Philips Xper Information Management Flow Coordinator provides a cath lab scheduling solution to reallocate rooms, resources and personnel.
• For the cath lab, or balloon angioplasty and stenting, Philips Xcelera image management, analysis and reporting solution is integrated with TraceMasterVue and other modalities, so the cardiologist can access the patient’s current and previous ECGs and other imaging studies prior to the intervention. During the intervention, Xper Information Management monitors and records the patient’s hemodynamic data, while charting procedural notes during the case.

For the cath lab, Philips is highlighting its Allura Xper suite with solutions for diagnostic, interventional and pediatric cardiology, as well as vascular interventions and EP. Philips 3D-Coronary Angiography (Allura 3D-CA) provides 3D modeling of the coronary arteries for interventions. To assist with stent deployment, Philips said its StentBoost enhances visualization of stents in the coronary arteries. With the ability to transfer CT volumes from the Philips Brilliance CT to the Allura Xper systems, the company’s CT TrueView helps interventionalists select the optimal projection angle to minimize foreshortening, without using additional radiation in the cath lab.

For cardiovascular information systems (CVIS) and PACS, Philips has enhanced its Xcelera solution. The multimodality solution provides one access point for cardiology information, such as cardiovascular ultrasound, CT, MR, nuclear medicine, ECGs and electrophysiology recording signals, as well as storage and enterprise distribution of multimedia studies. Philips has integrated Xcelera with the new Xper Information Management cath lab workflow solution. Xper Information Management is designed to address the challenges facing IT professionals who must manage the data captured during cardiac cath procedures.

For CT, Philips is featuring its Essence technology, a combination of x-ray tube, detector system and reconstruction design elements. The new Brilliance 64 with Essence technology is a 64-channel CT scanner for radiological imaging, including cardiac CT. The system features Smart Focal Spot X-ray tube technology, which improves sampling density for enhanced spatial resolution; Nano-Panel detectors designed to enable fast and dose-efficient examinations; and RapidView Reconstruction, which provides high temporal resolution in reconstructed images through adaptive, rate-responsive techniques to freeze patient motion during acquisition. The two new scanners also employ the Philips-exclusive Step & Shoot Cardiac imaging technique.

For molecular imaging and nuclear medicine, Philips is showcasing various nuclear medicine product offerings, including the Precedence SPECT/CT, CardioMD and Astonish software. The Precedence SPECT/CT unites high-end, multislice CT with a flexible gamma camera. The CardioMD is a compact, fixed 90-degree nuclear cardiology camera that offers proven attenuation correction technology with clinical validation and truncation compensation. Astonish is a reconstruction algorithm that may help users to improve image quality and reduce cardiac acquisition times.

For MRI, Philips offers a range of MRI systems to be shown that meet any customer’s needs: the Panorama HFO, Achieva 1.5T A-series, Achieva 3T X-series, and the Achieva XR with a 1.5T to 3T rampable magnet. In addition, a new 32-Channel Torso Cardiac coil takes advantage of the imbedded SENSE technology, enabling cardiac cine imaging in a single breath hold with Philips Kt- Blast technique.

For echocardiography, the iE33 intelligent echo system aids cardiologists, especially those treating patients with heart failure, valvular disease and congenital heart disease. Philips said its Live 3D Echo technology, using xMATRIX technology, can be applied to adult and pediatric patients for views of the heart. Philips’ Live 3D Echo has been combined with its PureWave technology and miniaturized for adult transesophageal examinations.