Philips and HeartFlow have announced that they have entered into a collaboration agreement with the goal of improving access to diagnostic and planning tools for interventional cardiologists evaluating and treating patients with suspected coronary artery disease. A press release reports that under the agreement, Philips will promote the use of the HeartFlow FFRct analysis in conjunction with Philips’ advanced catheters for imaging and assessing measurements of coronary arteries.
According to the press release, the advanced catheters from Philips that will be promoted include Philips’ coronary fractional flow reserve (FFR), instantaneous wave-free ratio (iFR) and intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) solutions.
The commercial collaboration will initially focus on the USA, with the intention to expand joint efforts globally in the near term. The two companies are also exploring further collaborations in diagnostic imaging and advanced informatics.
In addition to the commercial collaboration agreement between Philips and HeartFlow, the two companies have entered into an exclusive agreement to co-develop an improved cath-lab x-ray image derived FFR or iFR solution, to significantly enhance workflow while improving the diagnosis and subsequent treatment of patients with coronary artery disease.
Christopher Barys, business leader of Philips Image Guided Therapy Devices, comments: “Our commitment is to transform the patient experience and identify pathways that are personalised, high quality and at a lower price point.To address the burden that coronary artery disease is placing on healthcare systems and to transform the patient experience, hospitals are focused on adopting new technology that can improve the diagnosis and care of these patients while reducing unnecessary invasive procedures. HeartFlow shares our mission of improving clinical outcomes and, through collaboration, we can advance our goal of helping healthcare providers decide, guide, treat and confirm the right therapy at the point of care.”
The HeartFlow FFRct analysis is a non-invasive technology designed to provide insight into both the extent of coronary artery disease and the impact of the disease on blood flow to the heart. Data from a patient’s non-invasive coronary CT angiogram are securely uploaded from the hospital’s system to the cloud. HeartFlow leverages deep learning to create a personalised, digital 3D model of a patient’s coronary arteries, which is then analysed by powerful computer algorithms to evaluate millions of complex equations to simulate blood flow in the model and assess the impact of blockages on coronary blood flow.
