Philips EmboGuide Interventional Oncology System Launched in International Markets

May 15, 2014—Royal Philips Electronics announced the international launch of its EmboGuide interventional oncology system for treating difficult-to-reach tumors or tumors in patients who are deemed unsuitable for surgery. Philips featured the EmboGuide at the Asia-Pacific Congress of Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology, which was held May 15–18, in Singapore. EmboGuide is not available in the United States.

According to the company, EmboGuide is a live, three-dimensional (3D) image guidance tool that is designed for use in conjunction with Philips’ interventional x-ray system to perform tumor embolization procedures. It offers interventional radiologists the ability to visualize and characterize tumor lesions and plan and execute interventional procedures.

The company noted that a specific example of a tumor embolization procedure is transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) for palliative treatment of liver tumors. TACE involves simultaneous local administration of chemotherapy and beads that block the arteries feeding the liver tumor.

EmboGuide leverages the ultralow x-ray dose settings of Philips’ AlluraClarity interventional x-ray system and the fast, high-quality abdominal imaging of the company’s XperCT Dual. XperCT Dual’s enhanced imaging technique—multiphase cone beam CT—offers high-quality 3D images of lesions.

The company stated that the EmboGuide system detects more than twice as many tumor-feeding arteries compared to conventional imaging methods (eg, digital subtraction angiography), which allows interventional radiologists to optimize the catheter locations for embolization and plan a route to them. During the administration of the embolization agent, EmboGuide accurately superimposes the planning information onto the interventional x-ray system’s live images to monitor the treatment progress and determine its endpoint.

Shiro Miyayama, MD, commented in Philips’ press release, “We can only treat what we see, yet the embolization of all blood vessels that feed the liver tumor lesion is key for an effective TACE procedure. EmboGuide’s live 3D image guidance helps to improve the technical success of the procedure, as it can automatically identify the small tumor-feeders that are difficult to detect with conventional two-dimensional angiographic imaging methods.” Dr. Miyayama is with the Department of Diagnostic Radiology at Fukui-ken Saiseikai Hospital in Fukui, Japan.