Robotics take center stage at EuroPCR 2022

Robotics take center stage at EuroPCR 2022

For the first time since 2019, our team attended one of the signature global events for the interventional cardiovascular community: EuroPCR. The course is an opportunity to engage with the physician community to demonstrate our technology, and we welcomed the return to an in-person event. Two years have passed since the last event, which provided a fresh perspective on how clinicians view robotic technologies.

Wayne Markowitz, Worldwide Executive Vice President and Head of Corindus and Carrie Vooght, Head of Clinical Affairs, both attended EuroPCR and shared their key takeaways:

Q: What did Corindus, a Siemens Healthineers Company present at EuroPCR?

CV: Robotic technology was a major topic of interest at EuroPCR and the organizers made a point to open the course with a live, robotic-assisted PCI procedure, which featured our CorPath GRX System. Dr. Nicolas Dumonteil, an interventional cardiologist from Clinique Pasteur, performed the procedure in front of a crowd of thousands of physicians. It served as a fantastic way to kick off the rest of the week and set the tone for a course that focused heavily on exciting robotic technologies.

Corindus presented new data during an innovation session titled "Innovations in simulation-based training, procedural planning, monitoring, and robotic PCI." The recent NAVIGATE study is a novel, post-market study, which evaluated CorPath GRX technIQ™ automated movements in percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) procedures. It demonstrated promising results, including reduced procedure time, reduced fluoroscopy time, reduced radiation exposure, and trends toward reduced contrast volume and dose area product, compared to robotic PCI without the use of technIQ.

Corindus also sponsored a well-attended symposium, "Robotic-assisted intervention: latest clinical insights and applications for complex PCI" outlining functions and capabilities of the CorPath® GRX System for PCI and the future of the coronary cath lab.

Q: EuroPCR featured numerous presentations on different robotic technologies. What are industry peers saying about the state of robotics?

WM: The conversations around robotic platforms have evolved from asking "What is this technology?" to "How do we implement this technology?" We are increasingly fielding specific questions such as "How do I train my staff?" or "How do build a successful robotics program within my facility and system?"

The switch has flipped from thinking of robotic platforms as novel, to something of a requisite technology for the best facilities in the world. I attribute that switch to two things:

First is the progress of the last couple of years. We have made a concerted push to help build awareness and drive adoption and education for the technology around the world. Second, physicians increasingly have personal stories around using robotic technology and sharing their own experiences in a peer-to-peer setting is very powerful within the clinical community to help validate a new technology.

Q: What are the new technologies that generated buzz at EuroPCR?

WM: We have heard about the benefits of automated movements through our technIQ Smart Procedural Automation, but we also hear "What's next?" For many, the answer is remote procedures, and we are seeing significant interest in establishing remote capabilities across provider facilities.

Also, every session at EuroPCR that focused on "the cath lab of the future" highlighted robotic technology. Originally, we saw healthcare facilities think about robotics as just a device, but now it has evolved to an integrated solution for workplace efficiency. Robotic platforms are now an essential component in modernizing the cath lab and optimizing the procedures performed there.

CV: There is a high level of interest in virtual proctoring and EuroPCR featured a whole session on VR tele-proctoring. I found it very interesting because the potential remote capabilities of the CorPath GRX System may fill a need in this area in the future by allowing physicians to proctor procedures from anywhere in the world.

Q: What is the current industry sentiment around remote robotic procedures?

WM: What's encouraging to me is the broad definition of "remote" and how people are thinking ahead by applying the meaning to their specific situations. For instance, some healthcare providers think of a remote procedure between two buildings on the same campus, where another is thinking about performing cross-continent procedures or even as a robust system for proctoring other physicians and staff. There isn't one universal definition of what remote means because you can use remote capabilities to connect with other hospitals and health systems, regardless of location.

CV: Conversations around remote cardiovascular procedures focused on increasing device compatibility and workflow efficiency. How do you engage the team from a training perspective and use a team approach to support remote cardiovascular robotic cases? The level of detail in the conversation around remote procedures suggested a high level of motivation to realize its benefits for patients and providers.

Q: How did it feel returning to EuroPCR after a long hiatus?

WM: For first time in quite a while, I felt a sense of "business as usual" because of the number of people in attendance and their high level of engagement. I also noticed the level of focus and attention on robotics. It was refreshing to see robotics integrated into multiple sessions each day of the congress and it became clear the technology is top-of-mind across providers and geographies.

Overall, EuroPCR gave me a tremendous sense of optimism about the state of robotic platforms. I am excited to see the momentum for our current technology and for what we can do in the future to further expand access to care.

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