Technology Overview

Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) involving the implantation of intracoronary stents is an effective revascularization therapy to reduce ischemia in Coronary Artery Disease (CAD). However, decision for stent selection (e.g., size /type/number), implantation location and strategies are often challenging, especially when treating complex bifurcation and tandem lesions, which are prone to In-Stent Restenosis (ISR), late thrombosis and the associated adverse clinical events.

Our team has developed a system to model stenting virtually for predicting the functional status of the coronary lesions post- PCI based on non-invasive Fractional Flow -Reserve (FFR) so that the operator can review and compare different implantation strategies and their impact on coronary physiology post-PCI.

This system will enhance appropriate patient selection for invasive treatment strategy, and support an individualized stent and strategy selection, potentially transforming clinical decision-making and treatment planning in coronary artery disease.

We are interested in working collaboratively with an industry partner to license this technology for commercialization to benefit patients.

Technology Features, Specifications and Advantages

Virtual stenting is a non-invasive process, which will prevent complications associated with invasive FFR treatment. The system is computationally efficient, as the time required is only about 25 mins to 2 hours. Virtual stenting has improved diagnostic accuracy and is compatible with various CT vendors (eg. Toshiba, Siemens and Philips).

A suite of patents and patent applications have been filed for this technology.

Potential Applications

• Virtual stenting is useful for pre-PCI CAD diagnosis and post-PCI outcome prediction, where it helps in the clinical decision-making and treatment planning in CAD.
• The system can be an add-on to CT scanners in hospitals.

Customer Benefit

Coronary revascularization is advocated for those lesions with FFR ≤0.8. Post-revascularization FFR >0.8 signifies procedural success. Although FFR-guided coronary revascularization has been shown to enhance clinical outcomes, FFR measurements are not widely used in clinical practice due to the high medical cost, additional procedure time and potential complications involved in the invasive procedure.

Virtual stenting makes use of a non-invasive methodology to discriminate the ischemic lesion and assess the outcome of revascularization. This helps to reduce the risk and complications that the procedure brings about for the patients.

Virtual stenting also saves time and cost as compared to conventional FFR measurements and procedure. The system has also shown great diagnostic accuracy and is a promising index to diagnose the hemodynamic significance of coronary stenosis, as well as predict the hemodynamic outcomes of the stenting procedure.