News

Vektor today announced the appointment of three key executives. The appointments, which come as Vektor prepares to expand the commercial availability of its vMap technology in the U.S., are Joe Braidwood as Chief Strategy Officer, Christian David Márton, Ph.D., as Vice President of Technology and Averee Chang as Vice President of Product.

“Through its early commercial success, we've seen that vMap has the potential to transform arrhythmia care," said Rob Krummen, CEO. "Joe, Averee and Christian are leaders in their respective fields, with distinct perspectives that will help drive our vision forward. I’m thrilled to welcome them to the team and look forward to working closely together through this exciting phase of our journey."

Vektor Medical today announced the appointment of Rob Krummen as CEO.

With nearly two decades of experience leading and advising corporations, nonprofits, institutions of higher education and state entities, Rob is uniquely qualified to lead the company in this new capacity. Most recently, he served as president and chief operating officer at Vektor, where he led clinical, regulatory, engineering, and operations. As CEO, Rob intends to continue overseeing these efforts, while spearheading the growth of the company’s commercial and sales teams.

Vektor Medical Aims to Change the Map of Atrial Fibrillation.

“At the recent Heart Rhythm Society meeting, Vektor Medical reported unprecedented rates of success at mapping sources of arrhythmias with vMap, a noninvasive computational modeling system that reveals potential hot spots in less than three minutes”

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“We wanted to find a way to pinpoint the arrhythmia source location using data from the 12-lead ECG," said Dr. David Krummen. "The 12-lead ECG is used in a variety of clinical settings outside the electrophysiology laboratory including the emergency department, the intensive care unit, and the outpatient clinic. One of the major goals of the system is to leverage arrhythmia data from these ECGs to potentially allow arrhythmia source mapping prior to arrival in electrophysiology lab."

Vektor Medical today announced positive results from its clinical validation study evaluating the accuracy of cardiac mapping with vMap. The study achieved statistically significant results of 98.7% in accurately identifying the regional arrhythmia source location for premature ventricular complex (PVC) and ventricular tachycardia (VT), 96.9% in accurately identifying the regional arrhythmia source for the arrhythmias and pacing types studied, and 97.3% segment mapping accuracy in all nine arrhythmia and pacing types included. 

The study results exceeded the pre-specified accuracy goals for arrhythmia source and pacing site localization, demonstrating vMap’s reliability as an accurate, non-invasive cardiac mapping tool. 

Results from the study will be presented at Heart Rhythm 2022 on April 29, 2022. 

vMap Mapping Technology for Cardiac Arrhythmias: Interview with Mike Monko, CEO of Vektor Medical.

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UC San Diego doctor creates new way to diagnose irregular heartbeat. vMap system uses ECG to create 3D image of heart.

Vektor Medical announced UC San Diego Health as the first hospital system in the world to offer its recently FDA cleared vMap.  

"We are committed to providing the most advanced cardiac arrhythmia care for our patients and are enthusiastic about the opportunity to improve the efficacy and safety of the ablations at UCSD using vMap. We anticipate that vMap’s non-invasive arrhythmia source mapping will enable our team to accurately identify and quickly target arrhythmia sources, which we hope will minimize the need for repeat procedures and reduce risk for patients.” Dr. Farshad Raissi, UC San Diego Health

vMap is the first technology that identifies potential arrhythmia source locations anywhere in the heart in less than three minutes using only 12-lead electrocardiogram data. The company is rolling out the technology at select cardiovascular centers of excellence across the country over the coming year before making it more widely available.

Vektor Medical announced today that its computational ECG mapping system, vMap, has received FDA 510(k) clearance.  

vMap is designed to map potential arrhythmia sources (hot spots) associated with stable or unstable arrhythmias anywhere in the heart, in less than three minutes using only ECG data. Following clearance, vMap will be commercially available to sites across the U.S.

“With vMap we are changing how electrophysiologists think about mapping. Our goal is to increase first-pass success rates, lower risk, and decrease the current cost burden of ablation on the healthcare system.”
Vektor Medical CEO Mike Monko

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A peer-reviewed article published by the Heart Rhythm Society’s journal Heart Rhythm O2 concludes that Vektor’s Computational ECG Mapping System (vMap™) and protocol-based respiratory gating may help facilitate radioablation planning and maintain efficacy during therapy.

The prospective, dual-site study, led by Dr. Gordon Ho, reported that a new non-invasive workflow using vMap™ may help facilitate the radioablation planning workflow. The study concluded that radio-ablation using vMap’s 12-lead ECG mapping and respiratory gated delivery may provide short-term safety and maintain efficacy during therapy in patients with advanced structural heart disease and refractory ventricular tachycardia (VT).

A dual-center study reported that vMap, as part of a new, non-invasive workflow, improved efficiency and precision for radio-ablation therapy in these study subjects. The study showed that the radio-ablation administered as a part of the enhanced workflow also significantly reduced ICD shocks for patients receiving the therapy. Presented by its lead author Dr. Gordon Ho, at American College of Cardiology 2021 and the Taiwan Heart Rhythm Society 2021 (THRS), the research won first prize in the “Clinical - Ventricular Arrhythmias/Cardiac Implanted Electronic Device” category at THRS. As stated at the ACC and THRS conferences, the study concluded that the simplified, non-invasive workflow, involving vMap, was “Feasible, Efficient, Precise, Effective, [and] Safe”.

COVID-19 is associated with myocardial inflammation which may cause or exacerbate arrhythmias. A study led by Dr. David Krummen was presented at the Taiwan Heart Rhythm Society - Cutting-Edge Care for Heart Rhythm on April 17-18, 2021. The study reports that use of vMap™ computational 12-lead ECG analysis was able to provide arrhythmia insights beyond those available from a standard 12-lead ECG in patients following COVID-19 infection.

Vektor Medical, Inc. announced the start of its clinical study to evaluate vMap™. Using patients who have previously undergone a clinically-indicated electrophysiology study and successful ablation, the purpose of this study is to clinically validate the use of vMap™ in providing arrhythmia/pacing hotspots for analysis by a physician. vMap™ has been designed as the next generation in arrhythmia mapping. This non-invasive, rapid technology helps unlock the patient’s ECG, providing information on arrhythmias in all four heart chambers. Vektor’s study will evaluate vMap™ across a variety of atrial and ventricular arrhythmias, including atrial and ventricular fibrillation.

vMap was presented as an innovative technology that may improve “efficiency and precision” in the treatment of complex arrhythmias. All five patients treated with vMap and radio-ablation experienced successful outcomes with a significant reduction in ICD shocks (29±16 to 0.6±0.9) and no adverse events reported.

Life-threatening heart rhythm disorders such as ventricular tachycardia may be eliminated using cutting-edge, non-invasive technology as an alternative to standard invasive catheter ablation procedures, in some cases. In an abstract and associated poster published at the American College of Physicians’ Southern Regional Conference, researchers report successful use of vMap™ technology to guide stereotactic radiotherapy to destroy diseased heart tissue. Researchers report that this non-invasive mapping and ablation has “shown tremendous promise in recent years.” Importantly, for this patient, his “shock burden decreased from 34 ICD shocks in the 6 months preceding … therapy to 0 ICD shocks in the 11 months after treatment. His quality of life improved significantly, and he has resumed an active lifestyle”.

Vektor has been selected as one of San Diego Venture Group’s ‘Cool Companies’ for 2020.  Connect w/ San Diego Venture Group (SDVG) promotes the formation, funding, and development of innovative new ventures in the San Diego community.  "We help innovative companies thrive so they can make a meaningful impact on the economic development of the region, and together create a world-class tech ecosystem," Mike Krenn, CEO of Connect. SDVG’s Cool Companies list highlights the fastest-growing, most exciting startups in Southern California.

Researchers, in an abstract and associated poster published in the Heart Rhythm Society’s journal Heart Rhythm, find that computer-based analysis of 12-lead ECG accurately mapped 93% of known ventricular locations to the exact ventricular segment.  The computer-based analysis required only 3 minutes, plus or minus 2 minutes, per ECG.

Vektor Medical, Inc. is pleased to announce its Series Seed financing round is fully subscribed, and the round is officially closed. The investment round will enable Vektor to further invest in investigative research, efforts toward U.S. Food and Drug Administration 510(K) clearance, and development of a commercial product. “With the support of our investors, we are delighted to have successfully closed this funding round in less than two months and with more investor interest than we had room for in the round.”  Rob Krummen, COO and General Counsel

In an abstract published in the American Heart Association’s journal, Circulation, researchers conclude that a case of stereotactic radioablation of ventricular tachycardia illustrates efficacy of non-invasive 12-lead ECG mapping and radioablation in a patient who failed prior invasive VT therapies.

A new procedure developed at UC San Diego Health uses targeted ablation to enable treatment for ventricular fibrillation. The procedure is enabled by the use of electrocardiograms to make a computerized map of the heart’s own voltage.