Gentuity’s Vis-M High-Frequency OCT Imaging System Directly Visualizes Neurovascular Pathologies in FIH Procedures

January 12, 2023—Gentuity, LLC, a Massachusetts-based imaging and artificial intelligence firm developing intravascular devices, announced the first-in-human (FIH) use of the Vis-M high-frequency optical coherence tomography (HF-OCT) imaging system and probe. The technology allows for high-resolution intravascular imaging in the brain.

The procedures were performed by Professor Vitor Mendes Pereira, MD, a neurosurgeon and Director of Endovascular Research and Innovation at St. Michael’s Hospital, a site of Unity Health Toronto in Toronto, Canada. The procedures were performed in the neuroangiography suite using an endovascular approach.

The company advised that this FIH experience will be presented at the ABC-WIN seminar held January 15-20 in Val d’Isère, France.

According to Gentuity, the Vis-M neuro intravascular imaging probe has been designed to address the challenges of navigating through the tortuous and delicate blood vessels of the brain. The imaging probe enables in vivo micron-level resolution at 250 frames per second providing high resolution images not only of the arterial wall and interventional therapies but also beyond the vessel wall.

“This is an incredibly exciting milestone,” commented Dr. Pereira in Gentuity’s press release. “The direct visualization technology we evaluated here offers unprecedented potential in the diagnosis and treatment of aneurysms, stroke, intracranial atherosclerotic disease, and other neurological pathologies.”

Dr. Pereira continued, “I am proud and honored to have the opportunity to perform the first cases. The system and imaging probes performed very well, integrating with our workflow seamlessly, and provided us with important information that we cannot obtain with any other technology—very impressive.”

Professor Pedro Lylyk, MD, added, “Because of neuro HF-OCT, we will now be able, for the first time, to analyze and better understand different pathologies and the results of our neurointerventional therapies. It is a real game changer in the cerebrovascular field.” Prof. Lylyk, a neurosurgeon, is Director and CEO of ENERI, Equipo de Neurocirugía Endovascular y Radiología Intervencionista in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Finally, Matt Gounis, PhD, stated, “Today, we welcome the new era of intravascular imaging in intracranial circulation with this new technology. Revolutions in neurointerventional imaging—from the discovery of x-rays over 120 years ago to three-dimensional imaging in the angiography suite 20 years ago—occur roughly once in a generation. The work demonstrated by Dr. Pereira and his team in these first human cases is profound—direct imaging of the pathology and its relationship to devices transforms treatment decisions and the fundamental understanding of cerebrovascular pathology.” Dr. Gounis is Professor at the UMass Medical School Department of Radiology and Director of New England Center for Stroke Research in Worcester, Massachusetts.