Materialise Enlightens Medical Care With FDA-Approved Cardiovascular Software

Materialise has received FDA clearance for its cardiovascular planning software.

Mimics Enlight joins several other offerings from Materialise that target the medical field, as the company continues to offer FDA-approved 3D solutions. This time around the software suite is focused on the heart, as Mimics Enlight builds upon the Mimics Innovation Suite with more specific workflow in patient selection and planning.

Transcatheter mitral valve replacement (TMVR) procedures are becoming more common with an aging population, and Henry Ford Health System in Detroit is especially skilled in the workflow involved in helping these patients.

So it makes sense that Materialise continues to work directly with Henry Ford Health System, as Mimics Enlight was created as a collaborative effort. Dr. Dee Dee Wang, MD, FACC, Director of Structural Heart Imaging, and her team work with Materialise software (and often with 3D printing solutions) to create patient-specific solutions — recently announcing their 1,000th patient served.

Mimics Enlight is designed to “support patient selection and planning for structural heart and vascular therapy,” Materialise notes.

“We work very closely with teams at our partner hospitals and medical device companies to identify areas where 3D planning and printing can improve their ability to plan procedures. With the FDA clearance of Mimics Enlight, we are expanding the 3D toolkit for cardiologists working to treat patients with complex cardiovascular issues, starting with mitral valve replacement,” said Bryan Crutchfield, Vice President and General Manager of Materialise North America.

Crutchfield, who in a recent conversation underscored the ongoing collaboration with Henry Ford Health System and focus on medical applications, added that “We believe in the power of our mission to create a better and healthier world.”

That world needs high-tech healthcare solutions, as mitral regurgitation is said to affect almost 10% of the 75+ population, requiring often-complex TMVR procedures. Easing that workflow will help medical teams to more easily help those in their care.

Because everyone’s heart is a bit different, understanding the exact anatomy in question is key to first-time-right procedures. When I visited Dr. Wang’s office some time ago, she and the team demonstrated with a 3D printed patient heart how a catheter goes in — and how they have three sizes to choose from, and selecting the right size the first time can shorten procedure time and recovery significantly.

The software suite ensures that accurate measurements can be taken for accurate planning and prediction. Understanding patients’ risks such as left ventricle outflow track (LVOT) obstruction ensures that blood flow can be properly predicted and taken into account.

“Materialise has a wealth of medical technology and experience built throughout two decades of development and implementation of the Mimics Innovation Suite. That expertise in delivering patient-specific solutions serves as the foundation for Mimics Enlight Mitral’s ability to consistently view and measure each patient’s complex mitral valve anatomy. Using a 3D model created in Mimics Enlight Mitral improves physicians’ ability to understand and plan procedures before entering the cath lab and gives them the reliable measurements critical to successful implantation of TMVR devices in highly diseased hearts,” said Brigitte de Vet-Veithen, Vice President of Materialise Medical.

Via Materialise