Toshiba Introduces Volume Navigation 3-D Roadmapping

Navigating through blood vessels during interventional radiology procedures is no easy task. But Toshiba American Medical Systems, Inc. hopes to make it easier with its Volume Navigation 3-D roadmapping software for the InfinixTM-i vascular X-ray product line. The system was on display this week at the Society of Interventional Radiology’s (SIR) annual meeting in Chicago.

The system uses a real-time road map, and can show the deployment of coils during a cerebral aneurysm procedure. The software matches up the system component’s movements with a fused 3-D and fluoroscopic display. Users can choose 2-D or 3-D displays (or each on a different monitor), and can they can control or fine tune the images with manual controls. The system is good for imaging intricate vascular areas, such as the brain, uterus and abdominal region.

“Volume Navigation provides physicians greater confidence when deciphering and navigating complex vascular structures, enabling them to perform complicated interventions more quickly and accurately,” Doug Ryan, vice president of marketing and strategic development of Toshiba, said in a statement.

The Volume Navigation system received 510(k) clearance last September and can be added on to all Toshiba Infinix-i vascular X-ray systems. Currently the system is installed at Western Medical Center in Santa Ana, Calif.

Toshiba’s product is similar to others on the market. GE Healthcare introduced Innova Vision and Innova TrackVision, for use on its Innova 4100 IQ X-ray imaging system in 2009. It also uses fluoroscopy and provides 3-D renderings, roadmapping, navigation and image-guided intervention. The system allows users to overlay a 3-D rotational X-ray, MR, or CT image with 2-D fluoroscopic image to help users advance guide wires, coils, catheters, and other devices with real-time images. They also offer a Subtracted 3-D program to visualize the vessels, removing unwanted structures to more clearly view the anatomy of interest, according to Paul Brooks, commercial marketing manager for interventional radiology at GE Healthcare.

Other companies offering a 3-D roadmapping system include Philips, with its Dynamic 3-D Roadmap.