Image Guidance Software Expands Benefits for Interventional Radiology

New software has been developed for a soft tissue navigation system with tracked instrumentation that provides the option of navigation with multimodal image fusion with any single modality, such as computed tomography (CT) or ultrasound imaging.

Traxtal, Inc. (Toronto, ON, Canada), a developer of image-guided soft tissue navigation systems, developed the PercuNav 2.0 software for the PercuNav, which is the only computer assisted, image-guided diagnostic and interventional system cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for all imaging modalities, and is the only such system that features a wide range of flexible and rigid "tip-tracked" instruments. It is also the only commercially available soft tissue navigation system with tracked instrumentation that provides the option of navigation with multimodal image fusion with any single modality, such as CT or ultrasound imaging.

Neil Glossop, Ph.D., Traxtal president, remarked, "CT and MR images provide physicians with terrific tools for identifying areas of interest but are often impractical for navigation purposes. Ultrasound is a great live imaging modality but images can be difficult to interpret. We set out to combine all available imaging data with real time tracking of the tips of flexible instruments on one screen to allow the physician to accurately target and navigate directly to areas of interest with confidence. We are delighted with the extremely positive physician response to the PercuNav."

The PercuNav system consists of the Traxtal Tx mobile system cart, PercuNav software, and a wide range of instruments including flexible needles, biopsy devices, and radiofrequency ablation (RFA) introducers. Using minute electromagnetic sensors embedded in the tips of these instruments, the software superimposes the precise, real-time location and orientation of the instruments on preoperative and live images of the patient. The system also incorporates advanced techniques for compensating for patient motion and respiration. It acts like a global positioning system (GPS) for medical instruments, and is the only such product available that allows accurate tracking of flexible instrument tips inside a patient's anatomy.

The PercuNav system also provides powerful solutions for diagnostic imaging. Clinicians can identify and mark areas of interest on CT or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, which can then be overlaid with live ultrasound for diagnostic scanning. This allows areas of interest to be quickly located and compared under both imaging modalities, while compensating for patient motion and respiration. It provides interventional radiologists and sonographers with the broadest image fusion capabilities available for soft tissue navigation.

The system's capabilities are strengthened with the new, PercuNav 2.0 software, which provides for greater ease-of-use with a more streamlined, intuitive user interface. It also increases the system's data import options to include positron emission tomography (PET)/CT and three-dimensional (3D) volumes created from rotational fluoroscopy acquisitions.

PercuNav 2.0 adds a Digital Navigation Link to the Philips Healthcare (Best, The Netherlands) iU22 intelligent ultrasound system, resulting in higher quality imaging and improved workflow. The system also allows clinicians to download segmented CT volumes and target plans from Philips' Extended Brilliance Workspace to the PercuNav system for use in the planning and delivery of therapy and it adds several new instruments to the extensive range of tracked instrumentation already supported by the system.

"Developed with feedback from our clinical community, PercuNav 2.0 was designed to enhance the PercuNav system's ease-of-use, clinical utility, and connectivity with popular imaging technologies," said Dr. Glossop. "We believe that our technology can improve the accuracy of interventional procedures with less time spent in CT, enabling the reduction of CT-suite costs while delivering excellent patient care." Traxtal will provide compatibility with all major vendors' imaging systems of 2009.

Traxtal focuses on the advanced design of instrumentation for image-guided interventions, and has extensive experience in image-guided intervention as an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) supplier of custom-designed tools.

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