Philips has introduced DeviceGuide, an AI-powered device tracking solution that assists physicians in repairing leaking heart valves through a minimally invasive approach.

The solution was built on the company’s EchoNavigator platform. The software brings artificial intelligence (AI) into the operating room, translating complex imaging into real-time visual guidance that helps navigate the heart with more clarity and confidence.

Patients who are too frail for open-heart surgery have the treatment option of techniques like mitral transcatheter edge-to-edge repair (M-TEER). In this procedure, the leaking valve is replaced through a tiny incision in the top of the leg in the groin area, guiding long, flexible instruments through the veins and navigating a miniature repair device into the heart.

Clinicians must view and interpret X-ray and ultrasound images on multiple screens, coordinate movements between two operators, and make precise adjustments to grasp the moving valve leaflets, position the repair device, and confirm results in real time. According to Philips, this is where DeviceGuide can assist with its 3D navigation support.

DeviceGuide leverages an AI algorithm to automatically track the tiny repair device as it moves through the beating heart, combining live echo and X-ray images. It generates a virtual 3D model of the treatment device in real time, superimposed on the live images of the beating heart.

“With DeviceGuide, we’re bringing AI into the heart of the procedure room, and into the heart itself,” said Dr. Atul Gupta, chief medical officer, Diagnosis & Treatment at Philips. “This is Philips’ first AI assisting physicians in real time to visualize and guide heart valve treatment devices* as they navigate the beating heart. It’s helping doctors in the moment as they are helping their patients with structural heart disease.”

This lets clinicians see where the device is and in which direction it’s pointing, offering a more clear view of the procedure.

The DeviceGuide tool was developed in partnership with Edwards Lifesciences, manufacturer of these heart repair devices. The solution merges Philips’ medical imaging and AI expertise with Edwards expertise in structural heart innovation. The duo celebrated that its tool can reimagine key parts of the mitral TEER procedural workflow.

“DeviceGuide demonstrates the impact of combining leading imaging and therapy expertise to develop solutions designed around the procedural workflow, a model that will shape the future of AI-enabled image-guided structural interventions,” said Mark Stoffels, Business Leader, Image Guided Therapy Systems.