The ARTIS pheno, a new robotic C-arm angiography system from Siemens Healthineers, has found its first home in the U.S. at Michigan Medicine, the Ann Arbor-based academic medical center of the University of Michigan.

“This system will help clinicians optimally perform a wide variety of minimally-invasive procedures and many new, more complex procedures, with increased confidence,” Matt Hoffman, vice president of Advanced Therapies at Siemens Healthineers North America, said in a company statement.

The ARTIS pheno is intended to replace the ARTIS zeego, which was introduced eight years ago,
It boosts full-body exams by 15 percent and head exams by 68 percent compared to the zeego, the company noted when the system got the FDA nod in March. The speed boosts mean less contrast is required, which is a particular plus when examining older patients with impaired kidney function.

It is also has advantages both for pediatric and bariatric patients. Its free inner diameter of 37.6 inches lets caregivers stay next to kids, and its table can hold patients weighing up to 617 pounds. The multi-tilt table adds movement, and combined with its wider C-arm design, provides more free space and patient access.

“We are getting more flexible, especially in terms of challenging patients,” Peter Seitz, general manager of surgery, told HCB News when the ARTIS pheno was introduced in 2016 at the Radiological Society of North America meeting in Chicago. “Hospital systems around the world are facing more obese patients, older patients and fragile patients.”

A number of advanced guidance tools that work on the ARTIS pheno also help support the trend toward minimally-invasive procedures. These aim both to improve visualization and simplify workflow.

For example, it can be paired with software applications to aid minimally-invasive spinal fusion procedures. Screw paths can be planned and the Automatic Path Alignment function can then align the C-arm to follow them, which can reduce positioning errors.

The new system also is designed to support transarterial chemoembolization of tumors, in which particles coated with a chemotherapeutic drug are delivered via catheter into the arteries to attack the tumor.

With the syngo DynaCT 360, it only takes six seconds for the Artis pheno to create a large-volume image of the liver or lung. That includes the anatomy of the tumor and the vessels that lead to it.

“There is a high incentive for the hospital or health system to have minimally-invasive procedures which, in the end, save costs in the health care system,” Seitz said when the system was unveiled.

In addition, the ARTIS pheno has a number of new features to help fight infection, including its absence of ceiling components, so that “an uninterrupted sterile airflow can be maintained,” and its sealed, antimicrobial surfaces, which “provide infection resistance in addition to facilitating system cleaning,” according to the company.

This is the first Siemens' system with anti-microbial painting. That's particularly important now that CMS is penalizing hospitals for hospital-acquired infections.

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