December 6, 2018 – Corindus Vascular Robotics Inc. announced that its CorPath technology was used to conduct the first-in-human (FIH) Telerobotic Intervention Study, Dec. 4 and 5, 2018, in India. This study represents the world’s first percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) conducted from a remote location outside of the catherization lab.
Five patients located at the Apex Heart Institute in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, underwent an elective PCI procedure from a distance of roughly 20 miles (32 km) away. Each procedure was remotely performed by Tejas Patel, M.D., chairman and chief interventional cardiologist of the Apex Heart Institute, from inside the Swaminarayan Akshardham temple located in Gandhinagar. His partner, Sanjay Shah, M.D., was in the room with the patient at the Apex Heart Institute. The success of this study paves the way for large-scale, long-distance telerobotic platforms across the globe, according to Corindus.
“The first-in-human cases of remote robotic PCI represent a landmark event for interventional medicine,” stated Patel. The application of telerobotics in India has the potential to impact a significant number of lives by providing access to care that may not otherwise have been possible. For the first time in cardiology’s history, India will shine for this ground-breaking innovation, and I am honored to be a part of this historic occasion.”
Cardiovascular disease, including stroke, is the No. 1 cause of death worldwide resulting in nearly 18 million deaths per year. Geographic barriers, socioeconomic status and a rapidly shrinking number of skilled specialists significantly hinders patient access to timely, specialized cardiovascular care. This is especially of concern during highly emergent medical events, such as heart attack and stroke, where ideally treatment is received in as little as 90 minutes or within 24 hours, respectively, to avoid death or permanent disability.
To improve patient outcomes, Corindus has pioneered what it calls the world’s first remote telerobotic interventional platform to deliver highly specialized and timely cardiovascular care to underserved patient populations with geographic barriers to treatment. Following the successful FIH telerobotic coronary stenting cases performed in India, the company plans to begin commercial product development for use of the CorPath System in remote interventions and expand the company’s robotic platform to address stroke care.
In September 2018, at the Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) conference in San Diego, the first live transmission of a remote robotic demonstration was streamed from Mayo Clinic using CorPath GRX with developmental remote technology in a porcine model. Recently the Mayo Clinic received a multi-year $3.3 million grant from The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust to support exploring the feasibility and practicality of using remote robotic technology for cardiac interventions.
Walter Panzirer, trustee of the Helmsley Charitable Trust, was in attendance for the FIH telerobotic study in India. “We are excited to see the next step successfully completed, which demonstrates cardiologists can safely operate remotely on patients,” said Panzirer. “This gets us one step closer to realizing our vision that rural populations can get time-sensitive cardiac interventions sooner, ultimately saving lives.”
For more information: www.corindus.com
