Stereotaxis and Centre Hospitalier Universitaire (CHU) of Saint-Étienne, France, have announced the installation of the hospital’s second Niobe remote magnetic navigation system for the treatment of complex arrhythmias through electrophysiology ablation. CHU of Saint-Étienne represents the first healthcare provider in Europe to utilise two Niobe systems for clinical procedures.
“Our incredible success with the Niobe system has necessitated the opening of a second lab to manage the continually growing patient demand for this high-tech solution,” said Antoine Da Costa, chief of the electrophysiology unit at CHU of Saint-Étienne and principal Niobe user at the site. “We have discovered distinct advantages with the Niobe system over manual approaches to arrhythmia ablation, including extremely reliable navigation and catheter stability, considerably less safety risk for both patient and operator and greater manoeuvrability in difficult clinical situations. The results have elevated our status to a world-class, modern cardiology institution.”
The EP Unit at CHU of Saint-Étienne first implemented Stereotaxis technology in 2009. Since then, they have been consistently ranked in the top five for interventional cardiology in France, as well as a European centre of reference in the treatment of complex arrhythmias. Da Costa and his E electrophysiology colleagues perform approximately 3,000 procedures each year, including about 700 arrhythmia ablations, and have published three clinical papers on the efficacy of remote magnetic navigation in complex arrhythmias, such as atrial fibrillation.
