Prof. Martine Gilard and Dr. Romain Didier
Augment Imaging with Allia IGS 5
Allia IGS 5 offers a leading hemodynamic center personalization, integration and ergonomic improvement. CHRU of Brest, France.
Located in the Brittany region of France, CHRU Brest is a university hospital and a leading public healthcare institution which covers a population of 1.2 million people. CHRU Brest has more than 6,500 employees over nine sites including 500 doctors. The hospital is performing 800 angioplasties and about 300 TAVI annually in addition to other valve replacements.
Recently, the Cardiology Department at Brest University Hospital had a new Allia IGS 5 installed in the cathlab which has helped the team there simplify and streamline workflows while also improving image integration and quality and optimizing dose management.
The GE Healthcare team worked with interventional cardiology leaders at Brest University Hospital and other institutions to ensure that, as they were developing Allia IGS 5, they were building in functionality that met the needs of the clinicians.
“At the starting point, we asked ourselves how to improve the user experience. What was the possible optimization to most easily access patients,” said Jean Michel Marteau, design architect at GE Healthcare. “We had to improve the access to the main functions and make the physician more autonomous; improve the way they interact with the table controllers to better meet their needs.”
The collaboration resulted in a system purpose built to serve the needs of interventional cardiology departments and their patients – the Allia IGS 5. Interventional cardiology leaders at Brest University spoke about how the new system is improving the patient care pathway in their cathlab.
“Allia offers the capability to integrate all the imaging sources that are mandatory for the good patient care pathway in a very simple way,” explained Prof. Martine Gilard, MD, PhD, FESC, director of interventional cardiology at Brest University Hospital. “We have a direct access to the QFR that we can control directly from the side of the table in autonomy.”
Dr. Romain DIDIER, MD, PhD, an interventional cardiologist at the hospital added, “It is about time saving. With Allia’s personalization and ergonomic improvement, we have quick and direct access to all functionalities. One example is the StentViz application that allows us to check the stent deployment in the coronary that is now instantaneously displayed.”
Intuitive and customizable interfaces
Getting the interfaces just right was a key component in the design of the system.
“The biggest challenge with Allia was developing a system that is both customizable and versatile,” said Laure Laporte, usability, and validation leader at GE Healthcare. “We wanted to make sure that the users had interfaces that looked like what they prefer from their day-to-day experiences with devices they use and enjoy, like their smartphones.”
The goal was to use personalization to make the physician feel that each room they enter is their own room. Customized profiles in the system interface ensure that the physician sees the display monitor, dose, protocol, and interface as he or she set it up.
“For me, the main change is the personalization from the touch panel. We have direct access to all the parameters, StentViz, image gallery or sequences review in a very simple way,” said Dr. Romain DIDIER, MD, PhD. “You can personalize your interface depending on the operator with our own frame rate, dose setup or preferred angles for example.”
Prof. Martine GILARD concurs that the personalized interfaces are a benefit. “What I like the most with Allia are the new interfaces. We have a very quick and intuitive access to the parameter for the fluoro, the graphy etc.”
Dose optimization
“The image quality team designed the features of Allia to not only optimize image quality but also help give more information to the cardiologist on the dose he or she delivers,” said Bastien Guery, image quality engineer at GE Healthcare. “We met with several cardiologists in their hospitals and their input was critical. Now, with Allia, the physician can very easily control the dose. It is very simple, and it is done via the touch panel.”
Related to dose management, Prof. Martine GILARD said, “One improvement I’ve experienced is Allia’s InnovaSense feature. This is an intelligent system that ensures we always get the optimal distance between the detector and the patient regardless of the angulation. We know that this is a critical point to get a good image and a dose reduction for the patient and the staff. With all the dose / IQ improvement done during the years, we are now working at 3.75 frame per second in fluoro that is very low.”
Dr. Romain DIDIER, MD, PhD added, “The most important innovation is the Dose Cockpit. This application enables the live and instantaneous display of the dose we are delivering to the patient. it means that during the procedure we can see if we are in an angulation that delivers a too much dose and make little moves to decrease the dose delivered. It comes in addition to the Dose Map that allows us to monitor the skin dose received by the patient in the different areas where X-ray shots have been performed.”
Allia IGS 5 features AutoRight, an AI-powered tool that enables clinicians to reach the level of image quality that they define, at the lowest possible dose, regardless of the patient anatomy or angulation. With AutoRight, the machine assists the clinician in optimizing the technical parameters allowing him or her to focus their attention and expertise on the patient.
Multi-modality integration cathlabs like the one at Brest University Hospital work with a wide range of image sources and need a solution that can integrate them all.
“With Allia, the multi-modality integration is a step further,” explained Dr. Romain DIDIER, MD, PhD. “From functional evaluation (OCT) to robotic integration this new platform is very open and ‘all in one’ in terms of plugging but also for by its interface. Switching between advanced applications is like using a smartphone, intuitive and playful.”
Allia IGS 5’s integration capabilities enable clinicians to easily integrate and connect with other imaging sources such as OCT, IVUS, FFR, QFR, and Echo.
“In our center we are using many third-party imaging tools to complete the 2D images from the coronary arteries with, for example, endocoronary ultrasound that is directly displayed on Allia’s large monitor display,” said Prof. Martine GILARD. “It really helps us to confirm our coronarography with these tools. It is very easy to use and to plug and play.”
Prof. Martine GILARD called Allia’s imaging integration tools a “revolution” and highlighted the benefits of being able to integrate all essential images while being able to work at a very low dose. “This gives us the best possibility of treatment and the best possibility of diagnosis with the lowest irradiation possible.”
A legacy and a vision for interventional cardiology the Allia IGS 5 is GE Healthcare’s latest offering in interventional cardiology, and it builds on a legacy of innovation and meeting the needs of clinicians. “GE Healthcare was the first 20 years ago to introduce a digital detector system in cardiology. Today, with Allia IGS 5, GE Healthcare takes a further step to be prepared for the challenges of interventional cardiology with improvements in ergonomics, customization of the environment and the ability to connect to third party equipment,” said Christophe LePage, program manager, GE Healthcare. “Nothing excites us more than seeing doctors find ways that the Allia IGS 5 can optimize their work and improve patient care.”
The statements by GE HealthCare customers described here are based on their own opinions and on results that were achieved in the customer’s unique setting. Since there is no “typical” hospital and many variables exist, i.e. hospital size, case mix, etc. there can be no guarantee that other customers will achieve the same results. Allia may not be available in all countries. Refer to your sales representative for more information. JB05637XE
