The CathCam: A Novel Angioscopic Solution for Endovascular Interventions.

Area of Science:

• Medical Devices
• Endovascular Interventions
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Peripheral arterial diseases necessitate endovascular procedures, often limited by device control and X-ray fluoroscopy visualization.
• Existing methods struggle with precise catheter navigation and visualization during complex interventions like chronic total occlusion (CTO) crossing.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the performance of the novel CathCam system in crossing chronic total occlusions (CTOs).
• To compare the CathCam's efficacy against conventional catheters and a version without integrated imaging (CathPilot).

Main Methods:

• System assessment in 3D-printed phantom models and ex vivo patient-derived superficial femoral artery CTO samples.
• Measurement and comparison of success rates, crossing times, and fluoroscopy times between CathCam, CathPilot, and conventional catheters.
• In vivo validation of CathCam as a reliable endovascular imaging approach.

Main Results:

• CathCam achieved 100% success in phantoms and 75% in ex vivo CTOs, versus 35% and 25% for conventional catheters.
• Average crossing times were significantly reduced with CathCam (31s phantom, 210s ex vivo) compared to conventional catheters (502s phantom, 511s ex vivo).
• CathCam demonstrated superior success rates and reduced procedure times in both phantom and ex vivo evaluations.

Conclusions:

• The CathCam system enhances real-time visualization and device control for endovascular procedures.
• It offers a significant improvement over conventional catheters for crossing CTOs, potentially improving clinical outcomes.
• CathCam represents a promising advancement in minimally invasive endovascular intervention technology.