When you enter the operating room of the cardiology department of the Confluent hospital in Nantes, no trace of blood but many, many screens. On the left, in black and white, there are for example the radio images. Beside, in light blue, it is a 3D model of the patient’s heart, which the doctor will not see in real life since he accesses it via the femoral artery, at the level of the groin, and therefore without opening the chest.
But in recent weeks, it is a new screen, where sometimes red, orange or blue circles appear that has aroused the interest of the team. “Thanks to a catheter, we instantly see potentially very sick cells, those which are a little less so, and others which are healthy,” explains Dr. Selim Abbey, a cardiologist specializing in rhythmology. We progress like that, millimeter by millimeter, until we have explored everything. “
A database of hundreds of thousands of electrical signals
At the private hospital of Confluent, as in 17 other health establishments in Europe, a new software, VX1, is used to treat even more effectively atrial fibrillation, the most common cardiac pathology (one in five people over 60 years old would be affected) and in particular promoting stroke. An innovation based on artificial intelligence and driven by the young Marseille start-up Volta Médicale. “We have listed in our software hundreds of thousands of abnormal cardiac electrical signals,” explains Théophile Mohr Durdez, 26, the managing director. The doctor can thus know very finely the areas to be treated and carry out a map of the patient’s heart. “
Previously, the cardiologist had to interpret an incalculable number of lines (which still appear on another screen), “a much more tedious job” for an operation that sometimes lasts several hours and whose efficiency rate is 70%, says Selim Abbey. Consequence for these people affected by this heart rhythm disorder: the risk of having to return several times to the operating room to cauterize (that is to say burn) the pathogenic cells. The same ones that cause the heart to contract quickly, irregularly and irregularly, and prevent the organ from pumping blood properly.
The results of the study in 2023
Co-founded by an engineer and three cardiologists, Volta Medical is awaiting the results of its clinical study, which should have 344 patients, by 2023. The time in particular to verify the effectiveness of this software over time, and potential recurrences. “We hope to demonstrate the superiority of our artificial intelligence software, with initial results which are already very promising in the context of a previous study”, indicates Théophile Mohr Durdez.
The start-up, which made a fundraising of 23 million euros at the end of last year, hopes to eventually establish itself on the front line in the treatment of atrial fibrillation, in Europe and the United States. Worldwide, it is estimated that 33.5 million people are affected by this pathology.