Nov 27, 2019

One millionth procedure carried out on Philips Azurion advanced image-guided therapy platform

Industry-leading platform combines clinical excellence and workflow innovation, helping clinicians and hospitals to deliver outstanding patient care

Amsterdam, the Netherlands – Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA), a global leader in health technology, today announced the one millionth procedure on its flagship Azurion image-guided therapy platform. Since its introduction in February 2017, Azurion has seen rapid adoption in hospitals around the world, reaching the landmark millionth procedure in just over 2.5 years. The millionth procedure took place at GZA Ziekenhuizen in Antwerp, Belgium [1].

Image-guided therapy, where treatment is performed through a small incision and guided by imaging technologies including X-ray and ultrasound, is increasingly replacing open surgery for the treatment of many diseases. As the range of diseases that can be treated with image-guided therapy continues to expand and the procedures themselves become more efficient, the patient’s treatment experience continues to improve. They face less trauma, and as a result their stay in hospital can be dramatically reduced – often returning home after one night in hospital, and for some procedures even leaving the hospital on the same day.

The success of Philips Azurion is testament to the strength of the next-generation platform and our strategy of continuously innovating procedures to make them more effective and efficient.

Ronald Tabaksblat

General Manager Image Guided Therapy Systems at Philips

“Minimally-invasive image-guided procedures are widely regarded as the answer to treating more patients, more quickly and at lower cost,” said Ronald Tabaksblat, General Manager Image Guided Therapy Systems at Philips. “Working together with clinicians, we use our comprehensive portfolio of interventional imaging systems, smart devices, software and services to treat one patient every second worldwide. The success of Philips Azurion is testament to the strength of the next-generation platform and our strategy of continuously innovating procedures to make them more effective and efficient.”

The procedure was carried out by Dr. Benoit Thomas, a thoracic and vascular surgeon at GZA Ziekenhuizen. Dr. Thomas’ patient was treated for a popliteal artery aneurysm – a bulge in the blood vessel behind the knee which, if left untreated, can potentially cause blood clots to form. Such a blood clot could cause the loss of the leg, a stroke or a heart attack. In the hospital’s hybrid operating room, the patient received a small endovascular stent graft – a tube-shaped structure inserted into the vessel to strengthen its walls.

“I’m proud to have treated the millionth patient with the Azurion, as this system has helped us to improve our workflow and improved the staff experience,” said Dr. Thomas. “A real benefit of the Azurion is that we can use previous diagnostic scans and reduce the amount of radiation for patients and staff. We also see an improvement in image quality and a decrease in procedure time due to the setup of the platform and the bedside control-panel.”

Most of today’s image-guided therapy procedures treat cardiovascular diseases, but its use is expanding into treatment of diseases in other organs such as the brain, lungs and spine.

Philips at RSNA 2019

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Azurion: an industry-leading platform for image-guided therapy

Developed in collaboration with leading hospitals worldwide, Philips Azurion is an innovative image-guided therapy platform that allows clinicians to easily and confidently perform a wide range of routine and complex procedures, helping them to optimize interventional lab performance and provide superior care. Installed in more than 90 countries, the platform harnesses vital procedural information from various sources, such as imaging systems, interventional devices, navigation tools and patient health records to provide interventional staff with the control and information they need to perform procedures efficiently.

The latest addition to the image-guided therapy and Azurion portfolio is the FlexArm, which includes a set of innovations that makes it easier for the clinician to perform imaging across the whole patient in both 2D and 3D and helps to reduce repositioning of the patient, staff and equipment. Philips also recently introduced the IntraSight interventional applications platform to seamlessly integrate intravascular imaging and physiology applications into the interventional lab workflow.

Visit Philips at the RSNA 2019 annual meeting

During the Radiological Society of North America’s (RSNA) 2019 Annual Meeting, December 1-6, in Chicago, U.S., attendees will have the opportunity to experience Azurion first-hand at the Philips booth #6730. For more information about Philips’ presence at RSNA, visit www.philips.com/RSNA and follow @PhilipsLiveFrom for #RSNA19 live updates.

[1] More than one million procedures have been performed on Philips Azurion based on Philips’ internal case and procedure data. The one millionth case was estimated based on the same data.

About Royal Philips

Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA) is a leading health technology company focused on improving people's health and enabling better outcomes across the health continuum from healthy living and prevention, to diagnosis, treatment and home care. Philips leverages advanced technology and deep clinical and consumer insights to deliver integrated solutions. Headquartered in the Netherlands, the company is a leader in diagnostic imaging, image-guided therapy, patient monitoring and health informatics, as well as in consumer health and home care. Philips generated 2018 sales of EUR 18.1 billion and employs approximately 80,000 employees with sales and services in more than 100 countries. News about Philips can be found at www.philips.com/newscenter.