Newswise — NEW YORK – July 16, 2018 – The Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF) is pleased to announce that its premier translational research facility, the CRF Skirball Center for Innovation (SCI), is partnering with Siemens Healthineers to advance their imaging capabilities for structural heart disease research. SCI is dedicated to guiding early ideas and innovations in cardiology through comprehensive preclinical research programs to introduce practical clinical therapies to patients. As part of this collaboration, SCI will now offer a Siemens Healthineers SOMATOM Definition Flash CT scanner, which will help expand SCI’s research capabilities and maximize efficiencies for its sponsors.
“We are very excited to partner on this program with Siemens Healthineers to offer improved CT scanning for use in our structural heart disease research initiatives, allowing SCI to become a true hub of innovation in this area,” said Juan F. Granada, MD, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Cardiovascular Research Foundation. “It will play a significant role in the conduct of our medical device studies and foster the development of new treatments for heart disease.”
“Not only will this new CT scanner allow us to pre-screen test subjects and reduce device-anatomy size discrepancies, but it will also help us identify factors that may impact a procedure,” said Athanasios Peppas, MS, Director of Operations at the CRF Skirball Center for Innovation (SCI). “In addition, it will help us to perform follow-up imaging to evaluate device performance, thrombosis, and tissue interaction.”
“When testing new devices or treatments, the new CT scanner will help us bridge therapies from the preclinical to clinical setting by enhancing our understanding of the device-tissue interaction. In addition, we will be able to incorporate fusion imaging protocols and improve the procedural planning structural heart procedures,” added Torsten P. Vahl, MD, Interventional Research Associate at SCI. Dr. Vahl is the Director of Experimental & Translational Research as well as an attending physician at the Structural Heart & Valve Center and the Center for Interventional Vascular Therapy at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center.
“Siemens Healthineers is excited to support the translational research that SCI is focused on, especially in the rapidly growing field of structural heart. Our ability to help advance medical device innovation and understand the imaging requirements of these novel devices will lead ultimately to better patient care and improved clinical outcomes,” said Anthony Medigo, Vice President of Cardiology-Advanced Therapies, Siemens Healthineers North America.
The statements by Siemens Healthineers customers described herein are based on results that were achieved in the customer's unique setting. Because there is no "typical" hospital or laboratory and many variables exist (e.g., hospital size, samples mix, case mix, level of IT and/or automation adoption) there can be no guarantee that other customers will achieve the same results.
About CRF
The Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF) is a nonprofit research and educational organization dedicated to helping doctors improve survival and quality of life for people suffering from heart and vascular disease. For over 25 years, CRF has helped pioneer innovations in interventional cardiology and has educated doctors on the latest treatments for heart disease. For more information, visit www.crf.org.
The CRF Skirball Center for Innovation (SCI) is a state-of-the-art facility dedicated to guiding early ideas and innovations through comprehensive preclinical research programs to introduce practical clinical therapies to patients. SCI is the premier destination for those seeking to develop and validate new cardiovascular technologies, as well as hands-on training for novel devices.
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