ST. LOUIS,May 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Stereotaxis, Inc. (Nasdaq: STXS) today updates progress on a global multi-center clinical study on ventricular tachycardia treatment outcomes by using the company’s proprietary Niobe® Magnetic Navigation System.

Ventricular tachycardia (VT) is a life-threatening arrhythmia because it may lead to ventricular fibrillation, asystole, and sudden death. VT is one of the most challenging arrhythmias facing electrophysiologists due to complex anatomy, the sensitive nature of ventricular tissue, and potentially lethal outcomes. Catheter ablation of VT, one of the fastest growing EP procedures globally, requires the delivery of robust lesions for clinical success.

The prospective multi-center clinical effort, named “Study to Obliterate Persistent Ventricular Tachycardia” (STOP-VT), will be conducted at The Hospital of University of Pennsylvania, Methodist Hospital (Indianapolis), Na Holmoce Hospital (Prague), Loyola University Medical Center (Chicago), and Herzentrum Leipzig GmbH (Germany). During the upcoming 31st Annual Heart Rhythm Society Scientific Sessions in Denver, CO, Petr Neuzil, MD, PhD, from Na Holmoce Hospital in Prague, will present a poster detailing the early results of the “STOP-VT” study.

“Based upon our excellent clinical results, we believe that treatment with magnetically-enabled radiofrequency catheters can effectively terminate a vast majority of documented ventricular tachycardias in patients who had suffered a previous heart attack,” commented Michael P. Kaminski, President and Chief Executive Officer of Stereotaxis, Inc. “This global initiative further exemplifies our commitment to developing long-term solutions for our EP customers.”

“Ablation of ventricular tachycardia is an excellent application for Stereotaxis magnetic navigation,” said John Miller, MD, Professor of Medicine, Krannert Institute of Cardiology, Indiana University School of Medicine. “Our experience has been that the precise intricate mapping and enhanced safety of magnetic navigation allows us to perform successful ablation of complex arrhythmias without the pitfalls associated with manual techniques.”

During the upcoming 31st Annual Heart Rhythm Society Scientific Sessions in Denver, CO, additional VT outcome data will be presented by established Stereotaxis users. Hiroshi Nakagawa, MD, PhD, Co-Director of the Heart Rhythm Institute at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and one of the world’s foremost experts on contact force and lesion formation, will present a paper entitled, “Substrate Ablation of Scar Ventricular Tachycardia Using Magnetic Catheter Maneuvering System.” In addition to the VT data, several Stereotaxis users from around the world will present clinical results related to atrial fibrillation (AF), pediatric and congenital arrhythmia, supraventricular tachycardia (SVT), atrial flutter, and use with implantable devices through a series of presentations and posters.

The unparalleled clinical capability of Stereotaxis has driven more than 130 hospitals to adopt magnetic navigation for a growing number of complex ablation cases in all four chambers of the heart. Stereotaxis technology is now installed and used by 9 out of the Top 10 Best U.S. Heart Hospitals as ranked by U.S. News and World Report. More than one third of the EP academic training centers in the United States have included Stereotaxis into their arrhythmia treatment laboratories.

About Stereotaxis

Stereotaxis designs, manufactures and markets an advanced cardiology instrument control system for use in a hospital’s interventional surgical suite to enhance the treatment of arrhythmias and coronary artery disease. The Stereotaxis system is designed to enable physicians to complete more complex interventional procedures by providing image guided delivery of catheters and guidewires through the blood vessels and chambers of the heart to treatment sites. This is achieved using computer-controlled, externally applied magnetic fields that govern the motion of the working tip of the catheter or guidewire, resulting in improved navigation, shorter procedure time and reduced x-ray exposure. The core components of the Stereotaxis system have received regulatory clearance in the U.S., Europe, Canada and elsewhere.

About Odyssey

The Odyssey portfolio of products provides an innovative enterprise solution for integrating, recording and networking interventional lab information around the world. Odyssey Vision standardizes data integration for magnetic and standard interventional labs by enhancing the physician workflow through a consolidated display of multiple systems and eliminating the challenge of interacting simultaneously with many separate diagnostic systems. Odyssey Enterprise Cinema then captures a complete record of synchronized procedure data that can be viewed live or from a comprehensive archive of cases performed. Through its proprietary data compression technology, Cinema enables sharing of live and recorded procedure data via a laptop anywhere over a secure high speed Internet connection. Hospitals can also share procedures with other institutions using Odyssey Network Connect providing a global forum for defining clinical best practices across a broad spectrum of medical procedures.

SOURCE Stereotaxis, Inc.