Amsterdam, the Netherlands – Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA), a global leader in health technology, today announced the introduction of OmniWire, the world's first solid core pressure wire for coronary artery interventional procedures. With its breakthrough solid core construction, physicians can more easily maneuver the wire in the patient's circulatory system to measure blood pressure along the vessel and guide the delivery of catheters and stents. The new wire supports iFR (instant wave-Free Ratio) measurements, the only resting index supported by randomized controlled outcome trials [1-3], as well as FFR (fractional flow reserve) measurements. It also integrates with the Philips IntraSight interventional applications platform, which can co-register iFR data onto the angiogram (interventional X-ray image) to precisely identify the parts of vessels requiring treatment.

Traditional pressure wires use a hollow metal tube (hypotube) to house the wiring that transmits the pressure information. Due to their thin walls, these wires can be challenging to maneuver and can sometimes kink, potentially becoming damaged during the procedure. OmniWire is the world's first solid core pressure guidewire, using advanced conductive ribbons embedded in its outer polymer layer to communicate pressure information. The front (distal) part of the wire is made from Nitinol, a super-elastic, durable material that is commonly used in non-diagnostic, interventional 'workhorse' guide wires. The back (proximal) part of the wire is constructed from a high-strength cobalt alloy that provides the high durability required for complex and multi-vessel cases.

"I have been very impressed with the handling of OmniWire, the new solid core design performed beautifully, and I was able to navigate the difficult case easily," said Dr. Jasvindar Singh, director of the catheterization lab at Barnes Jewish Hospital and associate professor at Washington University in St. Louis, U.S., who performed the first human case with OmniWire in the country. "We used iFR co-registration and found that the patient needed a stent. I was then able to perform the whole procedure working over OmniWire. This is truly an innovation in percutaneous coronary interventions."

The new wire supports both iFR and FFR indices. iFR continues to be adopted into clinical practice and has been validated in clinical outcomes studies with data from over 4,500 patients [1,2] as well as being recognized by the European Society of Cardiology (ESC), the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) and the American College of Cardiology (ACC) [4-6].

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