MedicalCV (Inver Grove Heights, Illinois) in early April reported that Allen Raczkowski, MD, the director of Robotic Cardiac Surgery at Banner Baywood Health Systems (Mesa, Arizona), performed a closed-chest, robotic, lone cardiac ablation procedure on an arrested heart using the ATRILAZE Surgical Ablation System.

The ATRILAZE Surgical Ablation System is a laser-based technology for cardiac tissue ablation used in both open and endoscopic surgeries.

Although the ATRILAZE System has obtained clearance for ablation or coagulation of soft tissue, including cardiac tissue, the treatment of cardiac arrhythmias is specifically excluded.

The compay said, that, to date, the product has been used at Baylor University Medical Center (Houston), Northwestern University Medical Center (Evanston, Illinois), Central DuPage Hospital (Winfield, Illinois), Baptist Medical Center (San Antonio, Texas), and Scottsdale Healthcare — Osborn (Scottsdale, Arizona).

"With a clinical history of unsuccessful medical treatment and interventional ablations, this patient was an ideal candidate for a minimally invasive operation. The versatility of the ATRILAZE wand allowed me to create the critical lesion sets with robotic assistance, providing the greatest chance of helping this patient," said Raczkowski, described by MedicalCV as a pioneer in minimally invasive cardiac surgery.

Marc Flores, president/CEO of MedicalCV said, "This procedure represents another significant achievement for the company as it is the first time a cardiac surgeon has used our ATRILAZE Surgical Ablation System to perform a closed-chest, lone cardiac ablation procedure." Flores added, "We look forward to continuing to leverage our sub-millimeter, laser-based technology platform as we pursue our long-term goal of developing and delivering a true, minimally invasive solution for atrial fibrillation."

MedicalCV's core technologies are the SOLAR and ATRILAZE Surgical Ablation Systems for use in soft and cardiac tissue ablation procedures, respectively. The ATRILAZE System has been utilized in concomitant open-heart and, by some cardiothoracic surgeons, in minimally invasive cardiac surgery procedures.