Sensei ® X Robotic Catheter Systems

First private hospital in the UK to offer the Hansen Robot

CNBC TV

Watch the recently filmed CNBC TV interview regarding the innovative Hansen Robot – designed to give surgeons accurate and stable control of catheter movement during complex cardiac procedures.

 

Our Services & Specialties

Through advanced surgical and medical facilities, the staff at London Bridge Hospital is committed to providing patients with an excellence of care unrivaled in the UK. To offer this level of excellence in patient care, London Bridge Hospital continues to innovate by utilising the first generation Sensei® Robotic Catheter System from Hansen Medical, Inc within the Cardiology Department. This system is designed to give our cardiologists accurate and stable control of catheter movement during complex cardiac procedures performed to treat patients suffering from abnormal heart rhythms or arrhythmias. In September of 2009, Hansen Medical launched the 2nd generation Sensei® X Robotic Catheter System worldwide. This next generation system is furthering the medical robotic frontier in electrophysiology (EP) by providing physicians with improved manipulation in catheter control while continuing to reduce radiation exposure to both the patient and physician.

By integrating advanced levels of 3D catheter control with 3D visualization, this 2nd  generation robotic system technology aims to provide better accuracy and stability to the physician.  Additionally, clinicians can combine use of the system’s remote navigation capability with state-of-the art irrigated catheters to deliver more effective lesion creation during AF procedures. This translates to a higher level of patient care and experience at London Bridge Hospital.

Arrhythmias, or electrical faults in the heart causing irregular heart beats or abnormal heart rhythms, affect millions of people each year.   These are characterised as occurring either in the atria (upper chambers of the heart), or in the ventricles (lower chambers of the heart).

 

Common forms of arrhythmia include:

  • Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a complex arrhythmia in which the atria or upper chambers of the heart beat rapidly and irregularly.  As a result, the ventricles or lower chambers never adequately fill with blood, and blood pools in the atria increasing the risk of stroke.
  • Atrial flutter is a rapid, but organized and predictable, pattern of beating of the atria.  As with AF, the ventricles cannot respond to all of the atrial beats, so blood pools in the atria, increasing the risk of stroke.
  • Atrioventricular nodal reentrant tachycardia (AVNRT) occurs when the abnormal signal begins in the atria, but instead of transferring to the ventricle through the atrioventricular (AV) node, the electrical signal is returned to the atria.  This sequence can happen over and over again.
  • Wolff-Parksinson-White is an arrhythmia caused by an abnormal bridge of tissue that connects the atria and ventricles of the heart.  This extra pathway allows electrical signals to go back and forth between the upper and lower chambers of the heart without passing through the AV node, which controls the heart rate.  As a result, very fast heart rates and other life threatening arrhythmias can develop.
  • Ventricular tachycardia is an arrhythmia which arises from the lower chambers of the heart.  It is characterized by heart rates over 100 beats per minute, but heart rates often approach 200 beats per minute.  At this rate, very little blood is pumped out of the heart to the brain and other organs.

Of all the arrhythmias, AF is the most common.  AF is a growing problem worldwide, affecting over 4.5 million people in Europe alone.  One of the results of AF is inadequate blood flow to the body, concomitant with an increased potential for stroke, as the blood left in the atria pools and forms clots that can dislodge and travel to the brain.

 

Minimally-invasive treatment of arrhythmias:

  • One method of treating arrhythmias is to destroy the cells that are causing the heart to beat irregularly using a catheter placed in specific locations inside the heart.  This is called catheter ablation. Radiofrequency energy is the most common energy source used to eliminate the abnormal heart beats.
  • As a precursor to treating the arrhythmia, the physician creates an electrical road map of the inside of the heart to help guide the placement of the ablation catheter.  This road map is created by placing a catheter that records electrical signals from various locations in the heart.  This catheter is called a mapping catheter.
  • The most important element in the mapping and ablation phase is to place the catheters in the correct location of the heart so that an accurate map is created and only the abnormal tissue is destroyed.

The goal of the next generation Sensei X Robotic Catheter System is to build on a robotic platform that addresses as many of the clinical needs of electrophysiologists as possible. Using these types of technology the London Bridge Hospital has been focused on improving patient outcomes and safety since its establishment in 1986. Hansen Medical will continue to innovate and deliver technology upgrades in order to allow the London Bridge Hospital to achieve this aim.