Philips launches UniGuide 3D Live Guidance, bringing CT planning into live procedures and extending the capabilities of its Azurion image-guided therapy platform

New CE-marked solution leverages the industry-leading Philips Azurion platform to integrate CT-derived insights and treatment planning directly into the procedural workflow, helping physicians make informed decisions during treatment.

Oct 29, 2026 | 4 minute read

Amsterdam, the Netherlands – Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA), a global leader in health technology, and a pioneer in image-guided therapy, today announced the launch of Philips UniGuide 3D Live Guidance in Europe and other CE-marked markets.

Interventional care increasingly depends on combining information from multiple imaging sources. Philips is advancing its vision of a more connected interventional ecosystem. UniGuide represents the next step in that journey by enabling physicians to access relevant planning information within the same workflow they use to guide treatment. Built on the foundation of the Philips Azurion platform, a widely adopted image-guided therapy system known for its workflow efficiency and user experience, UniGuide helps physicians bring pre-procedural planning insights directly into the live procedure, allowing physicians to access planning information where treatment decisions are made.

The first release of UniGuide connects preprocedural CT insights to the live Azurion workflow, supporting more informed, patient-specific treatment decisions in PCI, structural heart and complex vascular procedures.

Built on the strength of Azurion

For more than a decade, Philips has been at the forefront of innovation in interventional cardiology. Its industry-leading Azurion platform has helped cath labs worldwide simplify workflows, improve staff efficiency and support better patient care by combining advanced imaging, intuitive user interaction and seamless workflow integration.

The next frontier is making better use of the wealth of information available before treatment even begins.

Bringing insights from CT scans into the procedure

CT imaging provides detailed 3D insights before an intervention, helping physicians assess vessel characteristics, understand disease presentation, and plan treatment strategies. However, those insights are often reviewed separately from the systems used during the procedure, requiring physicians to switch between platforms and mentally correlate planning information with live image guidance.

Integrated directly into the Azurion environment, UniGuide is designed to address this challenge by making relevant CT-derived information available within the workflow physicians already use every day.

For coronary interventions (CT-guided PCI), insights derived from a coronary CT angiography (CCTA) scan performed before PCI can be combined with live image guidance through 3D overlay visualization or synchronized side-by-side display. This enables physicians to access vessel information and additional CT-derived insights, including plaque characteristics and other disease-related information, during the procedure.

Access to the CT angiogram allows us to assess relevant aspects of the vessels we are going to treat, improve procedural planning, and improve the precision of the intervention.

- Prof. Javier Escaned, MD, PhD, Head of the Interventional Cardiology Section, Hospital Clínico San Carlos and Complutense University, Madrid

“Bringing CT into the cathlab creates a huge opportunity for those patients who have already undergone CT imaging,” said Prof. Javier Escaned, MD, PhD, Head of the Interventional Cardiology Section, Hospital Clínico San Carlos and Complutense University, Madrid. “Access to the CT angiogram allows us to assess relevant aspects of the vessels we are going to treat, improve procedural planning, and improve the precision of the intervention. We can also review specific aspects of the CT inside the cathlab using the table-side touchscreen (TSM) and synchronize the movement of the 3D CT rendering with the C-arm. Together, these capabilities contribute to better guidance and higher precision of the interventions.”

Open ecosystem for Philips and compatible third-party planning sources

UniGuide supports an open planning ecosystem, allowing healthcare providers to use planning insights from Philips Advanced Visualization Workspace and compatible third-party solutions within the live Azurion workflow [1]. This flexibility helps protect existing investments while giving healthcare providers greater choice in how they plan and guide interventions.

Designed for usability and workflow efficiency

UniGuide is fully integrated into the Azurion workflow, allowing physicians to access CT and planning information on the large FlexVision display and interact with 3D guidance through the tableside Touch Screen Module. By minimizing the need to move between systems and workstations, UniGuide helps keep the focus on the patient and procedure.

In a Philips usability study, 93% of participating clinicians believed that bringing planning information directly into the procedural workflow could help improve cath lab efficiency and performance, while 80% indicated that UniGuide's automation and intuitive user experience could help physicians maintain focus during procedures. [2]

“We are increasingly able to understand a patient’s anatomy and plan complex procedures well before the patient enters the interventional suite. With UniGuide, we’re putting that knowledge to work during treatment, connecting CT planning with live guidance to help physicians make more informed, patient-specific decisions,” said Darshan Doshi, Interventional Cardiologist and Chief Medical Officer for Image Guided Therapy Devices at Philips.

A foundation for the future of image-guided therapy

UniGuide marks Philips' broader strategy to build on the capabilities of the Azurion platform and create a more connected environment for image-guided therapy. By bringing planning, diagnostic, and procedural information together within a single workflow, Philips aims to support clinical decision-making during complex interventions while enabling access to increasingly comprehensive clinical information.

Over time, Philips intends to expand this foundation across multiple imaging modalities, clinical applications, and procedure types, making relevant information available when and where treatment decisions are made.

Philips UniGuide 3D Live Guidance is CE marked and is available for sale in CE-marked markets from October 23, 2026. UniGuide 3D Live Guidance is currently not available for sale in the United States.

Sources

[1] The preprocedural planning solution should meet the DICOM conformance statement issued by Philips.
[2] Results obtained during a Philips claims substantiation study performed in March 2026. Responses are based on 15 clinicians from the United States who completed a questionnaire following a usability study and additional hands-on time with Philips Azurion and UniGuide.

About Royal Philips

About Royal Philips

Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA) is a leading health technology company focused on improving people’s health and well-being through meaningful innovation. Philips’ patient- and people-centric innovation leverages advanced technology and deep clinical and consumer insights to deliver personal health solutions for consumers and professional health solutions for healthcare providers and their patients in the hospital and the home.

Headquartered in the Netherlands, the company is a leader in image-guided therapy, diagnostic imaging, ultrasound, monitoring, enterprise informatics and personal health. Philips generated 2025 sales of approximately EUR 18 billion and employs approximately 63,700 employees with sales and services in more than 100 countries. News about Philips can be found at www.philips.com/newscenter.