SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Vektor Medical, Inc. today announced the University of California, San Diego Health (UCSD) as the first hospital system in the world to offer its recently U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) - cleared vMap™. vMap is the first technology that identifies potential arrhythmia source locations anywhere in the heart in less than three minutes using only 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) data. The company is rolling out the technology at select cardiovascular centers of excellence across the country over the coming year before making it more widely available.
vMap is designed to quickly, easily, and non-invasively map arrhythmia sources associated with stable or unstable arrhythmias in all four chambers of the heart, the septal wall, and the outflow tracts. The system has demonstrated success in identifying arrhythmia sources for a wide variety of arrhythmias, including atrial fibrillation. The easy-to-use system takes less than three minutes for a clinician to input case information, upload and markup an ECG, and receive a 3D, interactive arrhythmia source location map visualizing the inside and outside of the heart. vMap can be used as a non-invasive standalone tool or as a complement to traditional invasive electro-anatomical mapping systems in planning and procedural settings.
“Ablation procedures are not as effective as they could be today because traditional mapping can be imprecise and complex,” said Mike Monko, CEO of Vektor Medical. “Our mission is to improve outcomes in cardiac arrhythmia care, and we are excited to be able to introduce the unique benefits of vMap to the clinical community, starting with UCSD. UCSD operates a state-of-the-art electrophysiology laboratory and operating room and treats hundreds of patients with arrhythmias each year.”
Arrhythmias cause the heart to beat too fast, too slowly or erratically. When the heart doesn't beat properly, it can't pump blood effectively. As the world’s population ages, the prevalence of arrhythmias continues to rise. Arrhythmias have also become increasingly common in recovered COVID-19 patientsi. Atrial fibrillation (AF), the most common type of cardiac arrhythmia, is expected to grow to more than 12 million cases annually in the U.S. by 2030ii, and can result in stroke, heart failure, and even death. Traditional arrhythmia mapping is labor- and time- intensive, as invasive mapping requires a catheter to slowly navigate throughout the heart in order to map. Taking less time to find target locations with vMap shortens the procedure, which reduces the potential for complications from invasive mapping and long fluoro exposure. First time AF ablation procedures are unsuccessful approximately 40-60% of the time, largely due to the lack of information on arrhythmia source locationsiii.
"We are committed to providing the most advanced cardiac arrhythmia care for our patients and are enthusiastic about the opportunity to improve the efficacy and safety of the ablations at UCSD using vMap,” said Farshad Raissi, M.D., Associate Professor of Medicine at UCSD. “We anticipate that vMap’s non-invasive arrhythmia source mapping will enable our team to accurately identify and quickly target arrhythmia sources, which we hope will minimize the need for repeat procedures and reduce risk for patients.”
vMap was invented by physicians and engineers currently on staff at UCSD, who co-founded Vektor Medical to develop and commercialize the technology, including David Krummen, M.D., Gordon Ho, M.D. and Andrew McCulloch, M.D. The company’s Chief Technology Officer, Chris Villongco, Ph.D., is also a co-founder and earned his doctorate at UCSD.
About Vektor Medical, Inc.
San Diego-based Vektor Medical, Inc. is the developer of the world’s first technology to rapidly map arrhythmias anywhere in the heart using only 12-lead ECG data. This data is analyzed using proprietary computational modeling to create actionable 2D and 3D maps of potential arrhythmia sources. The company’s smart, simple, and non-invasive cardiac arrhythmia mapping platform aims to improve first-pass ablation success, lower risks from invasive mapping and long fluoro exposure, and reduce procedure times, all of which are expected to reduce healthcare costs associated with ablation.
i Ingul, C. B., Grimsmo, J., Mecinaj, A., Trebinjac, D., Berger Nossen, M., Andrup, S., Grenne, B., Dalen, H., Einvik, G., Stavem, K., Follestad, T., Josefsen, T., Omland, T., & Jensen, T. (2022). Cardiac dysfunction and arrhythmias 3 months after hospitalization for Covid‐19. Journal of the American Heart Association, 11(3). https://doi.org/10.1161/jaha.121.023473
ii Colilla S, Crow A, Petkun W, Singer DE, Simon T, Liu X. Estimates of current and future incidence and prevalence of atrial fibrillation in the U.S. adult population. Am J Cardiol. 2013 Oct 15;112(8):1142-7. doi: 10.1016/j.amjcard.2013.05.063. Epub 2013 Jul 4. PMID: 23831166.
iii Verma A, Jiang CY, Betts TR et al. STAR-AF2 Trial. NEJM 2015;372:1812-22
