Harnessing cutting-edge technologies have revolutionized the healthcare landscape and are poised to redefine how we treat conditions like cardiac arrhythmias. These innovative products and precision-focused designs have created breakthrough solutions to provide more effective, efficient, and safer treatments for patients with various cardiac conditions. Embracing the future of cardiac ablation therapy, CathVision is playing a big part in a transformative journey towards better health.
The team at CathVision works closely with electrophysiologists throughout the world to fully understand how the technology is being used to improve the diagnosis and treatment of complex cardiac arrhythmias.
This motivation brought Insights Care to interview Mads Emil Matthiesen, CEO & Co-founder at CathVision, to know more about the company’s ground-breaking system.
Below are the highlights of the interview:
Kindly tell us about your journey and inspiration behind venturing into the medical device sector.
When I was a Biomedical Engineering student, I longed for projects that allowed me to do more tangible things than reading textbooks. On an exchange program in the US, I was fortunate to be introduced to an electrophysiologist who showed their electrophysiology lab for cardiac ablation procedures. I fell in love with the abundance of technology that these physicians used everyday to cure patients from cardiac arrhythmia.
Brief us about the company. How is it contributing to the existing needs of healthcare? What solution is it bringing to the table?
More than 40 million people suffer from cardiac arrhythmia, and most will never receive ablation treatment despite this being one of the most effective treatment options. And even for those that do, there is a 50% chance of disease recurrence leading to the need for repeat ablation procedures.
For many years, industry leaders have ignored the importance of quality cardiac electrogram signals in the diagnosis, characterization and treatment of cardiac arrhythmia. Conventional EP recording systems typically acquire noisy and artifact-ridden electrogram signals, preventing the accurate analysis and interpretation of those signals and severely limiting the ability of electrophysiologists to correctly diagnose and devise ablation strategies.
This is what CathVision is changing.
CathVision is a medical technology company that develops electrophysiology solutions centered around an innovative EP recording system and suite of AI algorithms – the ECGenius System with CARDIALYTICS. Committed to empowering physicians to make more informed clinical decisions in the EP lab, CathVision is redefining the necessity of exceptional cardiac electrical signals to diagnose, characterize, and treat the most common heart rhythm disorders.
Give us an idea about the company’s services/products. What is the process of innovating medical devices at the company? What demographics is the company serving?
CathVision has reimagined one of the EP lab’s most traditional and stagnant pieces of technology. By developing an EP recording system characterized by superior signal acquisition, along with the CARDIALYTICS suite of artificial intelligence and analytic modules, CathVision can enrich the type of cardiac data collected, giving physicians information for diagnosing, characterizing and treating cardiac arrhythmias.
Can you elaborate upon the core values on which the company is built and what is its mission?
CathVision’s mission is to empower electrophysiologists to cure arrhythmias by modernizing and enhancing the technological capabilities of EP recording systems. We were founded by biomedical engineers, the motivation to develop technology for professionals to help treat patients better is in our DNA.
Our three core values at CathVision drive every aspect of our work:
- Collaboration: We share knowledge, we listen and we collaborate directly with each other across functions. We are still a relatively small entity where everyone can know everyone, which gives a special feel for new people joining.
- Self-management: We value that everyone is responsible for their own and their team’s goals towards our company goals. We foster a culture where you bring your thoughts forward and where we are each accountable for bringing solutions forward.
- Continuous learning: We are driven by relatively young, entrepreneurial minds who want to learn and grow. We practice an open mindset to evaluate issues and setbacks, where we aim to seek feedback from each other. We are in a technically and clinically advanced area where everyone needs a humble attitude to keep learning.
What role does technology play in facilitating the innovation of medical devices at the company?
Technology is how we solve the clinical problems that are known in the field today.
We have developed a proprietary signal amplifier that can record a high amount of heart signals at a low noise. Conventional amplifiers suffer from limitations in the way they form signals, the amount of signals they take in, the sample rate and other hardware specifications. We have 5 patent families covering low-noise inventions.
What specific endeavors is the company leading at present? Why do you find those essential in the arena of care?
The field of cardiology has been exploring the potential benefits of integrating artificial intelligence into medical devices and systems for several years. Lauded in healthcare as early adopters, there is definitive acceptance of AI’s potential to positively impact the analyses of data that can lead to more defined treatment and improved outcomes specifically for cardiac arrhythmia patients. This is a key focus area for CathVision – we’re turning potential into reality. We recently secured FDA clearance of our ECGenius System with CARDIALYTICS – this is the first and only EP recording system available with AI algorithms to facilitate electrogram interpretation and deliver unprecedented levels of intelligent, automated analyses designed to improve ablation outcomes in complex atrial arrhythmia procedures.
The CARDIALYTICS suite includes:
PVI Analyzer: a signal-based AI algorithm capable of confirming PVI isolation status across multiple cardiac ablation modalities when physicians treat complex arrhythmias such as atrial fibrillation.
Signal Complexity: an algorithm to help physicians visualize and quantify atrial fibrillation (AF) complexity parameters in patients with persistent AF.
What are some of the challenges the company faces when conducting its operations and how does it turn them into growth opportunities?
Being a start-up company in the medtech sector comes with many challenges; one of the most significant obstacles to overcome is financial. Advancing medical technology from idea to commercialization requires time and financial resources. At CathVision, we’ve been fortunate to partner with a small team of committed investors that believe in our work and have supported our endeavors throughout many stages of development. While it can be challenging to find investors that align with the mission and values, when this happens the reward is plentiful. To have such strong supporters and access to a network of talented individuals willing to provide guidance and expertise is invaluable and has helped us position CathVision to maximize commercial and strategic partnership opportunities.
Another inherent challenge of growth is building the CathVision team. Our company is led by passionate innovators and strategic thinkers with entrepreneurial spirit that drives our company forward. We’re always looking to add to that energy and dedication as we expand our team. It can be challenging to find the right fit but it’s necessary to ensure our collaborative culture thrives as that is a key component driving the innovation that leads to the development of technology that is changing the paradigm in cardiac arrhythmia treatment.
What advice would you like to give budding entrepreneurs and enthusiasts who want to engage in the medical devices sector?
The first ingredient is to be so motivated that you must move forward despite any and all challenges. I think motivation can come quite suddenly and it is often inspired by others around you who achieve goals that you dream of. This motivation will be key, as you initially think that you are building a product over just a few years, and then learn later that you are actually building a company that commonly takes 10 years and encompasses much more than just a product.
Be prepared to push on a high amount of fronts at the same time. You will advance many tracks in parallel, and you will initially feel more comfortable spending too much time on a few things rather than spreading your time over many things. It’s an unreasonable job description to be a founder, as you will not be able to do anything well enough in the beginning. I advise budding entrepreneurs to deal with intimidating tasks early on, such as user/customer interviews, where you will inadvertently meet some sour clinical users who think you are not ready yet. The cost of not understanding your clinical need early will be manyfold multiplied later. I advise entrepreneurs to ask others for advice on how you define your market, price, reimbursement, regulatory and any topics where you will start with just a wild guess yourself.
How do you envision scaling the company’s services and operations in 2023 and beyond?
2023 has been a compelling year for CathVision as we’ve focused on validating our ECGenius System. Our team worked closely with electrophysiologists throughout the world to fully understand how our technology is being used to improve the diagnosis and treatment of complex cardiac arrhythmias. Through these efforts, we heard first hand from respected physicians about the importance of our unique focus on signal quality and how this has enabled physicians to improve treatment strategies.
In the final months of 2023 and throughout 2024, our efforts will transition to focus on the commercial launch of our ECGenius System with integrated AI algorithms to facilitate electrogram interpretation and deliver unprecedented levels of intelligent, automated analyses. CathVision is the only company delivering this advanced, technology solution, so we’re ramping up our sales team to support the full commercial launch while also continuing to invest significantly in R&D that will bring additional algorithms to the system in the future.
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