Ascension Technology Corporation, (Milton, VT, USA) announced today it will present at the Investment in Innovation (IN3) West Summit in Las Vegas on February 28 and 29, 2008
The company designs and manufactures enabling 3D tracking devices for use in minimally invasive surgery. It is the technological front-runner in the development of microminiaturized sensors to track, navigate, and guide medical instruments within a patient’s body.
According to BCC Research, the global market for minimally invasive instruments and devices reached approximately $13 billion in 2005 and will grow to $18.5 billion by 2011. Navigation devices (i.e. optical, mechanical, and magnetic) represented $650 million in sales into existing markets in 2006; BCC expects emerging procedures to swell this total to $900 million by 2011.
Medical experts have identified 60 medical procedures in 13 specialties expected to benefit from image-guided diagnosis and therapy. Three Fortune 500 companies will introduce products in 2008 incorporating Ascension’s 3D tracking devices; many others are in developmental phases. Together with its partners, the company is presently pursuing medical products in the following specialties: obstetrics, cardiology, gastroenterology, dental care, pulmonology, and oncology.
Anticipating minimally invasive trends in medicine, Ascension has executed a five-year development plan and released a new generation of 3D Guidance medSAFETM magnetic trackers. They enable real-time navigation of disposable tools -- catheters, probes, guide wires, biopsy needles etc -- in conjunction with real-time and pre-acquired imaging modalities. Importantly medSAFE addresses medical requirements for low-cost microminiaturization of embedded sensors (as small as 0.3 mm in diameter) and accurate tracking in metal-intensive hospital rooms. Its breakthroughs will enable clinicians to rapidly navigate medical instruments to anatomical structures, localize lesions, and make volumetric measurements without over reliance on 2D fluoroscopic (X-ray) imaging.
Its 3D tracking platforms have been described as the “heart and soul” of new medical products that are already creating a paradigm shift in medicine as open surgeries morph into keyhole procedures. In recognition of its developments, Frost and Sullivan bestowed its 2007 North American Technology Innovation Award on Ascension for “distinctive achievements in the development of magnetic sensors” for minimally invasive procedures that will “dramatically propel the growth of image-guided therapies.”
The company’s products will ultimately be used in myriad procedures including: 3D ultrasonic visualization and volumetric measurement, image fusion, trauma intervention, percutaneous biopsy, cardiac catheterization, radiation planning, neural navigation, orthopedics, pulmonary intervention, endoscope localization, dental hygiene, and computer-assisted prenatal monitoring.
The company is the unrestricted owner and sole practitioner of DC magnetic tracking technology as well as optical tracking solutions. Twenty-two patents and extensive trade secrets protect its investment. The narrow number of ways to unobtrusively guide and navigate instruments in patients limits competition and creates a significant opportunity for double-digit growth.
About Ascension Technology Corporation: Based in Burlington, Vermont, USA, is a world leader in the development of magnetic guidance, navigation, and localization technologies and products for minimally invasive surgery. See also: www.ascension-tech.com