Hansen Medical Commences Clinical Trial of Sensei X Robotic System

Hansen Medical has announced the start of clinical trials of the Sensei X Robotic System on patients suffering from ventricular tachycardia (VT). The Sensei system consists of a flexible catheter with distal tips that are controlled remotely, which facilitate easy navigation during therapeutic intervention.

For the clinical study around 200 patients who have implantable defibrillators (ICDs) fitted on them will be considered. The main end-point of the study is to eliminate occurrence of VT and the secondary endpoints will study the impact of robotic ablation on the quality of life, mortality and the duration of hospital stay for the patient.

Ventricular Tachycardia is a condition of abnormally rapid heartbeat which may end up in a life threatening situation due to ventricular defibrillation, sudden cardiac arrest or asystole. People who suffer from VT are fitted with ICDs, which help save lives but tend to cause painful shocks. The patients chosen for the study will be observed for a period of two years. The Imperial College of Science Technology and Medicine is sponsoring the study. Electrophysiologist and the main investigator of the clinical study, Dr. Prapa Kanagaratnam, explained that the Cardiology Dept at St. Mary’s Hospital has already given a demonstration the superior performance of the Sensei Robotic System. The demonstration has shown that the catheter provides enhanced quality of lesion and operates with better precision when compared to traditional methods. She added that they have been successful in treating patients suffering from ischaemic VT using the Sensei catheter, which was not possible with conventional ablation methods. The CEO of Hansen claimed that the initial feedback received from the clinical trials was encouraging and has proven that the flexible catheter method was much more effective than ablation techniques.