Innovation using AI to track and visualise tiny repair devices through the beating heart is helping surgeons navigate in 3D with enhanced clarity.
Philips recently introduced DeviceGuide, an AI-powered device tracking solution that assists physicians during one of interventional cardiology’s most technically demanding procedures: repairing leaking heart valves through a minimally invasive approach.
Built on the health innovator’s EchoNavigator platform, this software brings AI directly into the procedure room, translating complex imaging into intuitive, real-time visual guidance.
Dr Atul Gupta, chief medical officer, diagnosis & treatment at Philips, said: ‘With DeviceGuide, we’re bringing AI into the heart of the procedure room, and into the heart itself. This is Philips’ first AI assisting physicians in real time to visualise and guide heart valve treatment devices as they navigate the beating heart. It’s helping doctors in the moment as they are helping their patients with structural heart disease.’
For patients too frail for open-heart surgery, minimally invasive transcatheter repair techniques such as mitral transcatheter edge-to-edge repair (M-TEER) offer a vital treatment option for mitral valve regurgitation.
During these procedures, surgeons repair a leaking valve through a tiny incision in the groin, guiding a miniature repair device into the beating heart.
Surgeons must view and interpret both X-ray and ultrasound images on multiple screens, coordinate movements between two operators, and make precise adjustments to grasp the moving valve leaflets, position the repair device, and confirm the result in real time.
The process demands accuracy, coordination, and experience from the team. This is where DeviceGuide can help with its 3D navigation support.
DeviceGuide uses an AI algorithm to automatically track the tiny repair device as it moves through the beating heart, intelligently combining live echo and X-ray images. It creates a real-time virtual 3D model of the treatment device, superimposed on live images of the beating heart.
This allows clinicians to see the device’s position and direction, providing a clear view of the procedure and enabling them to navigate the device more easily to effectively seal the leak.
Dr Atul Gupta explained: ‘The AI software serves as an assistive tool, with the physician always remaining in control. This isn’t about replacing expertise – it’s about amplifying it. By embedding AI into the procedure, DeviceGuide gives physicians an extra pair of eyes, effectively bionic vision, helping them treat more patients safely and confidently.’
