Siemens Healthineers Artis Icono Biplane Angiography System Introduced Outside United States

February 21, 2022—Siemens Healthineers announced the introduction of the Artis Icono biplane angiography system for diagnosing and treating coronary heart disease, structural heart disease, and cardiac arrhythmia. The system is designed specifically to improve workflows in interventional cardiology by providing excellent image quality at a low radiation dose. The system’s detectors are optimized in size for integrated use in the catheterization lab, noted the company.

Since February 2022, the new system has been in pilot operation at the University Hospital of Innsbruck in Austria. In the United States, the system and features are pending 510(k) clearance and are not yet commercially available, advised Siemens Healthineers.

According to the company, in the interventional treatment of complex cardiovascular diseases, Artis Icono biplane allows for simple positioning of the C-arm, particularly for displaying images at steep angulations. In addition, images can be acquired simultaneously from different angles. Artis Icono biplane provides a type of x-ray exposure regulation that considers contrast-to-noise ratios to maintain image quality, regardless of patient size and angulation.

For coronary heart disease treatment, an integrated quantification feature of Artis Icono biplane eliminates the need for a preliminary examination with a pressure wire to determine stenosis relevance and if a stent needs to be placed. With the new fractional flow reserve feature called “angio-derived vFFR,” only two images are needed to provide three-dimensional visualization of the affected vessel and obtain the necessary information instead.

For structural heart disease intervention (eg, transcatheter aortic valve replacement, left atrial appendage closure, transcatheter mitral valve implantation), Artis Icono biplane provides the option of performing fusion imaging. Angiography images can be overlaid with live ultrasound images These fused images help ensure effective communication among treating interventional cardiologists and echocardiographers.

For electromapping of the heart in the treatment of cardiac arrhythmia, Artis Icono biplane will be compatible with mapping systems of other manufacturers, resulting in artifact-free images and further possible reduction of radiation exposure.