Acutus Medical recently announced CE mark approval for AcQMap contact mapping software, offering expanded functionality that provides physicians with more options to inform individualised patient therapy. The company also announced FDA clearance of its second generation AcQMap platform. All AcQMap systems retain the unique ability to quickly reconstruct atrial anatomy using ultrasound and map electrical patterns using non-contact, charge density technology, creating ultra-high-resolution 3D images in real time.
“The contact mapping speed with the new Acutus system was extremely fast, which made it very easy to use,” said Christian Meyer, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany. “Clinically, having this capability available on one system that also does non-contact mapping allows me to do exactly what makes sense case-by-case. For routine cases, my treatment strategy can be confirmed using conventional mapping catheters. In more complex cases, such as atrial fibrillation, I can gather more comprehensive data about each patient’s anatomy and arrhythmia in real time with the non-contact charge density catheter, making AcQMap the complete atrial mapping solution.”
Cardiac ablation treatment can improve quality of life for patients with atrial arrhythmias such as atrial fibrillation (AF). AF affects more than 33 million people globally and increases the risk of stroke and heart failure.1,2 AcQMap enables physicians to uncover the electrical activation pattern of the heart with real-time visualisation during electrophysiology procedures. With non-contact mapping, physicians see full-chamber, continuous beat-by-beat arrhythmia conduction and can locate arrhythmias outside the pulmonary veins to inform their treatment strategy, enabling an iterative map-ablate-remap approach.
“With the introduction of contact mapping software in Europe, AcQMap is unquestionably the most agile and comprehensive cardiac imaging and mapping system available, offering full spectrum arrhythmia visualisation in under three minutes. No other technology offers the suite of solutions incorporated into AcQMap,” said Acutus Medical CEO Vince Burgess. “Our second generation system is engineered to be the cornerstone platform for electrophysiology labs for many years to come. We worked alongside physician partners to understand complex challenges and simple needs to improve the efficiency and safety of electrophysiology procedures. This next-gen AcQMap system has the capability to exponentially improve the day-to-day clinical utility of cardiac mapping and deliver long-term value by offering health systems a comprehensive solution for electrophysiologists and their patients.”
Acutus Medical’s contact mapping software is compatible with both first and second generation AcQMap platforms and will be installed on all European systems in Q3. The second generation AcQMap system is built to support future software innovations and will be available in the USA in Q3.
References
1 Staerk L, Sherer JA, Ko D, et al. Atrial Fibrillation. Circ Res 2017;120:1501-17. DOI: 10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.117.309732.
2 Chugh, S.S., Havmoeller, R., Narayanan, K. et al. Worldwide epidemiology of atrial fibrillation: a Global Burden of Disease 2010 Study. Circ Feb 25. 2014; 129: 837–847. DOI: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.113.005119.
