Israeli company unveils world’s first microcomputer for atrial pressure
Left atrial pressure (LAP) is a specific physiological indication for heart failure. Approximately 90% of cardiac patients admitted to the hospital have had pulmonary congestion related to elevated LAP- the earliest sign of impending heart failure exacerbation, long before clinical symptoms occur.
But, the initiation of the Vector-HF First-in-Human (FIH) clinical trial, and the successful first ‘in-human’ implantation of the V-LAPTM monitoring device by Israeli scientists enables better management for heart failure patients.
The Vector-HF FIH trial is designed to assess the safety and performance of the V-LAP system, and will have up to 30 patients at six European sites across Germany, Israel, Italy and the UK, while the V-LAP sensory device from Vectorious Medical Technologies is the world’s first digital, wireless, and battery-less device that communicates using high-resolution waveform morphology.
The implantation of the device was completed in six minutes under local anaesthesia -fixated within the interatrial septum of the heart using a minimally-invasive percutaneous procedure. Since the LAP an early and accurate real-time indication of heart failure, the implanted V-LAP will allow patients to measure LAP daily, via an easy, non-invasive method using a small external home unit. Physicians then receive those readings and can monitor the patient.
Professor Horst Sievert, the director of the Cardio Vascular Center in Frankfurt, Germany, who performed the first implantation, has affirmed that the technology changes the management of patients with severe heart failure, as its cloud-based system allows access to patient data on-demand, hence, monitoring the atrial pressure and managing medications can be done remotely and consistently.
William T. Abraham, professor of Internal Medicine, Physiology, and Cell Biology, Ohio, USA is positive that the cardiology profession will benefit greatly from this technology that provides valuable and non-invasive indication of LAP on a daily basis.
The device developers’ vision is to increase patient quality of life and reduce readmission rates in cases of heart failure. Oren Goldshtein, CEO and co-Founder of Vectorious, based in Tel Aviv, Israel hopes their achievement will improve the future of chronic cardiac disease treatment.
Category: Features, Technology & Devices