Valley Hospital is 1st in N.J. to treat cardiac ablation using holographic guidance platform

The Valley Hospital in Paramus said Thursday that it is treating the first patient in New Jersey, and one of the first patients in the U.S., with a procedure guided by a new FDA-cleared holographic cardiac ablation visualization platform known as CommandEP, manufactured by SentiAR.

According to St. Louis-based SentiAR, the completion of this pulsed field atrial fibrillation ablation procedure at the Valley Hospital makes Valley the first center in the world to perform pulsed field ablation using the CommandEP platform.

The Valley Hospital is one of the few select hospitals that have performed an ablation using SentiAR technology.

To date, over 100 procedures have been performed across the country. Valley’s procedure was performed by Dr. Dan Musat, associate director of electrophysiology at the Valley Hospital, and director of electrophysiology research for Valley Health System.

According to SentiAR, the CommandEP system is the world’s first FDA-cleared, holographic, augmented reality cardiac ablation visualization platform. It is designed to improve efficiency of cardiac ablation procedures.

During an ablation, an electrophysiologist will use energy (heat, cold or pulsed electric fields) to create small scars in the heart tissue. This interrupts irregular electrical pathways in the heart that cause arrhythmias — abnormal heart rhythms.

Physicians using the SentiAR system will wear a pair of AR glasses that will display an interactive, intuitive and hands-free view of the patient’s heart.

“Our team of electrophysiologists at Valley perform more than 750 cardiac ablations a year to treat arrhythmias. We are regularly adopting the latest technology to advance the high-level care we provide our patients,” Musat said. “This commitment to advancing our patient’s safety and outcomes led to our adoption of the SentiAR system. The system provides our electrophysiology team with an interactive visual of the patient’s heart, helping to guide where we will ablate the heart during our procedure.”

“SentiAR is adding the capability for physicians to view all information during their procedures through the SentiAR interface,” Berk Tas, CEO of SentiAR, said. “This in turn enhances control and efficiency of cardiac electrophysiology ablation procedures.”