SpectroCor Oy has received the prestigious EACTS Innovation Grant for its technology that, for the first time, provides cardiac surgeons with a real-time view of the heart’s oxygenation status during surgery.
Helsinki, Finland– The Finnish medical technology company SpectroCor Oy has been awarded the ‘EACTS Innovation Grant’ by the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (EACTS). The award was presented in Paris in an innovation Summit, where leading experts in the field gathered to showcase future solutions in cardiac surgery.
SpectroCor’s product was selected from among the world’s best emerging cardiac surgery technologies. The Chair of the EACTS Innovation Committee praised SpectroCor’s innovation as extremely impressive and noted that it stood out clearly among the applications.
A new window into the heart during surgery
“Open-heart surgery requires a bloodless field. As a result, the heart is deprived of oxygen during the repair phase. While intermittent blood flow can temporarily alleviate the lack of oxygen, it also prolongs the procedure. Until now, we have had no means to assess how much oxygen the heart needs and when it should be delivered. Around two million open-heart surgeries are performed globally each year, and this challenge is present in every single one,” explains Associate Professor Tommi Pätilä, pediatric heart and transplant surgeon, who leads the project.
SpectroCor’s technology offers cardiac surgeons a real-time view of the heart’s oxygenation during open-heart surgery – an area previously inaccessible to surgical teams. The system’s precision enables monitoring of oxygen consumption down to the mitochondrial level. This new way of monitoring the heart’s condition during surgery helps reduce complications by providing surgeons with precise physiological information when it matters most.
“We want to improve heart protection. This is critical to the success of cardiac surgeries,” Pätilä summarizes.
“The EACTS award validates our work and accelerates the pathway to bringing our product to market. This recognition comes at exactly the right time,” says Dr. Kalle Kotilahti, Chief Engineer and CEO of SpectroCor.
About SpectroCor
SpectroCor Oy is a Finnish company developing advanced medical technology to enhance the safety of cardiac surgeries by providing surgeons with direct, real-time insights into the heart’s condition during procedures.