£1million for innovative cardiac technology
20 Aug 2008
Professor Tobias Schaeffter, from the Division of Imaging Sciences at King’s College London, has been awarded a £1 million grant to develop novel devices and imaging technology for minimal-invasive treatment of certain heart problems.
The award granted jointly from Philips Healthcare and the Technology Strategy Board (public body, sponsored by the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills) is the first award to be made to the College by the Strategy Board, which was established in October 2007.
This funding will allow Tobias Schaeffter, Philip Harris Chair in Imaging Sciences at King’s, and his team to develop new tools to treat cardiac arrhythmias, which cause the heart to beat irregularly, potentially leading to strokes, heart failure or sudden death.
A major healthcare problem on the increase, due to an ageing population and currently affecting 5 per cent of the population, over a million over-40s in the UK suffer from this condition. The condition also affects younger people such as Andy Baddeley, British athlete competing in this year’s Olympic games in Beijing. Baddeley has a heart monitor after suffering from cardiac arrhythmia.
The Division of Imaging Sciences is a world leading centre for innovative interventional cardiac surgery. Imaging scientists at King’s established the UK’s first integrated MRI and x-ray imaging catheterisation laboratory and carried out the world’s first clinical series of catheterisations in this facility.
Cardiac treatment
Cardiac arrhythmia diagnosis and treatment is usually performed under X-ray guidance. However, this imaging technique offers no 3D information and no soft tissue contrast to the cardiologist performing the operation. The technique requires great skill and can lead to damage of surrounding tissue. The procedure also takes several hours, resulting in significant radiation exposure to patient and medical staff.
The project will develop the first Magnetic Resonance (MR) guided arrhythmia therapy procedure using a novel catheter device, which avoids radiation completely.
The team will also develop non-invasive MR-techniques to visualise the treatment lesions for individual assessment of therapy.
Industrial partner in the project, Philips Healthcare have a long history of collaboration with imaging scientists at King’s. The company is the world’s leading supplier of cardiovascular imaging equipment and has a strong R&D portfolio. The research programme, entitled MaRGiTA (Magnetic Resonance Guided Therapy of Cardiac Arrythmia) will also involve pre-clinical evaluation of prototype catheters at the College.
Professor Tobias Schaeffter says: ‘We are very excited about the development of a new catheter with Philips – combining the company’s expertise in development and commercialisation with King’s clinical and academic expertise and experience will further expedite translation of this technology to the market’.
Gerard Winkels, Head of the Electrophysiology Division at Philips Healthcare comments: ‘This collaboration will bring innovations to the treatment of cardiac arrythmias that will directly impact patients and care providers in terms of invasiveness, complexity and success rate. Commercial exploitation of the outcomes of this programme will also benefit the NHS- more patients would qualify to be treated with improved results and at lower overall costs to the healthcare system.'
King’s College London Business supports and commercialises the research of King’s academic staff. King’s Business has a team of Intellectual Property (IP), Business Development, financial and legal professionals to fully support the joint programme and ensuing IP and agreements together with Philips. The novel devices and MR-biomarker will be commercialised to generate revenue for Philips and the College.
Notes to editors
King's College London
King’s College London is one of the top 25 universities in the world (Times Higher 2007) and the fourth oldest in England. A research-led university based in the heart of London, King’s has 19,700 students from more than 140 countries, and 5,400 employees. King’s has an outstanding reputation for providing world-class teaching and cutting-edge research. The College is in the top group of UK universities for research earnings and has an annual income of approximately £400 million. An investment of £500 million has been made in the redevelopment of its estate.
King’s has a particularly distinguished reputation in the humanities, law, social sciences, the health sciences, natural sciences and engineering, and has played a major role in many of the advances that have shaped modern life, such as the discovery of the structure of DNA. It is the largest centre for the education of healthcare professionals in Europe and is home to five Medical Research Council Centres - more than any other university.
King's College London and Guy's and St Thomas', King's College Hospital and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trusts are working together to create a world-leading Academic Health Sciences Centre (AHSC).
Our AHSC brings together an unrivalled range and depth of clinical and research expertise, spanning both physical and mental health. Our combined strengths will drive improvements in care for patients, allowing them to benefit from breakthroughs in medical science and receive leading edge treatment at the earliest possible opportunity.
For more information, visit www.londonsahsc.org
The Division of Imaging Sciences
Imaging Sciences is a cutting-edge research and teaching division, specialising in medical imaging. The main objective of the Division is to pursue high quality, multidisciplinary research in medical imaging at the leading edge internationally. There is a close and vital relationship in our work between problemsolving in clinical and biomedical application areas and methodological research in image acquisition technologies and information processing.
Professor Tobias Schaeffter
Professor Tobias Schaeffter is the Philip Harris Chair in Imaging Sciences. His research interests include: Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) particularly interventional and quantitative MRI. Schaeffter developed real-time radial MR-techniques and applied these to cardiovascular and interventional MRI. He has also developed new relaxation time mapping techniques that can estimate contrast agent concentrations and allow the definition of a detection limit for labelled cells.
Royal Philips Electronics
Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands is a global leader in healthcare, lighting and consumer lifestyle, delivering people-centric, innovative products, services and solutions through the brand promise of “sense and simplicity”.
The Technology Strategy Board
The Technology Strategy Board is an executive non-departmental public body (NDPB), established by the Government in 2007 and sponsored by the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS).
The activities of the Technology Strategy Board are jointly supported and funded by DIUS and other Government Departments, the Devolved Administrations, Regional Development Agencies and Research Councils.
King’s College London Business Ltd
King’s College London Business is the wholly-owned subsidiary company of King’s College London, responsible for the commercial development of research and innovation at King’s. Responsive to the needs of business and industry, the King’s Business team leads the licensing of new technologies, supports creations of new business ventures, engages consultancy services and develops new business partnerships. King’s Business promotes knowledge creation with the College across a variety of sectors including industry, commerce, the public sector and creative and cultural organisations. www.kcl.ac.uk/business
Further information
Kate Moore, Public Relations Officer (Health Schools)
Public Relations Department
Email:
kate.moore@kcl.ac.uk
Tel: 020 7848 4334