Heart disease is one of the major killers the world over, and to help treat it we need better imaging technologies. Michele Perrino, President of Volcano, discusses the latest innovations the company is developing, before Bert van Meurs of the Philips business group Image Guided Therapy explains why Philips recently acquired Volcano.

The New Economy: Heart disease is one of the major killers the world over. But with medical technology constantly evolving, mortality rates are dropping. Joining me down-the-line to discuss the cutting edge in these developments is Michele Perrino from Volcano, a Philips business.

Michele, the current treatment for this is very invasive, and can’t be used for everyone. What technology are you developing to better the current procedure, and what sort of impact do you predict this will have on mortality rates?

Michele Perrino: Volcano is developing technology to enhance precision image and sensing guided therapy, to overcome the shortcomings of the e3 angiograms.

How we do that is mainly through two technologies: one called FFR, the second IVUS.

Let me first describe what FFR is. It’s a physiological assessment through a sensor that’s mounted on a wire. It allows the physician to assess which critical vessel needs to be treated, versus which vessel needs to be deferred.

IVUS gives a different perspective – again, complementary to the angiogram – because instead of physiological information, it gives morphological information. If an IVUS catheter with a transducer mounted on it is introduced in the artery, and then through the artery gives a 360 degree view of the plaque and the vessel wall.

Very soon, Volcano will introduce to the market a new software and hardware that will allow us to combine angiogram with physiological information, as well as IVUS. And this is a tremendous step forward, because the physician will have on the same monitor, all the different information they need.

The New Economy: So how widely is your technology used around the world, and what are the advantages of this real-time technology?

Michele Perrino: The advantages of this technology are very well known to physicians, and are also very well supported by strong clinical evidence.

Unfortunately, the adoption in Europe is not so high. It remains still in the range of six percent, on average, for both technologies – FFR and IVUS. This is our major challenge. But at the same time, also our opportunity.

Because what Volcano is really focused on is sharing the evidence, sharing the clinical utility that this technology brings, and trying to convince the clinical and non-clinical stakeholders that using FFR and IVUS really makes sense.

The New Economy: Of course, the medical industry is also a business, so, what are the cost-cutting advantages?

Michele Perrino: If we look at the short-term, there is an additional cost for the hospital. But our view moves more towards the longer-term: there is of course much higher clinical benefits, and much lower costs, that the hospital will have.

Just to give an example, if we have a three vessel disease, thanks to the FFR assessing the vessel, we could have cases where the patient could have one or two vessels treated, and the other deferred. And as a consequence of that, in some cases this could also mean that instead of getting bypass surgery, it will just have a PCI intervention: it’s much less invasive.

And you can clearly understand the cost, also the consequence for the patients themselves.

We are really selling a cost-saving technology.

The New Economy: Now, in February of this year, Volcano was acquired by health-tech giant Philips. Bert van Meurs is senior vice-president of the Philips Business Group Image Guided Therapy. Bert, how important is this acquisition to Philips’ strategy?

Bert van Meurs: For Philips this is a major acquisition. Philips has had a vision and a strategy, really to organise itself across the health continuum.

We do have a major position, a leading position, in the image guided therapy space, through our interventional x-ray labs. But this is just part of such a solution. And now we are making a significant step in a new space, which means interventional devices. And through this acquisition, we now can combine devices with systems, which will allow us to provide our customers a much more, overall, integrated solution.

The New Economy: What’s next for the image-guided therapy business, and how do you see technology in the medical industry changing in the years to come?

Bert van Meurs: This is just the start. The development of minimally invasive therapy is a tremendous change in the way care is being delivered for patients.

Through minimally invasive procedures you can deliver treatment in a more effective way; less impact to a patient. And a lot of new applications and new procedures are being developed, thanks to new technology that provides better guidance, more selective delivery of that treatment inside the patient.

Right now we do have a strong position in PCI coronary interventions. Also in peripheral, which is growing; it’s rapidly growing.

But we will go also into structural heart disease, where we’re tackling procedures for the replacement of aortic valve, micro valve repair; and even into electrophysiology. And a whole lot of new applications.

Combining both our companies will allow us to have more capabilities to develop new technologies. But this is just the start to really grow the minimally invasive therapy space, and to continue to have the best solutions for our customers, and continue to develop that as a leading company.