Venous Endovascular Interventional Strategies 2022

Vamstar was recently at the Venous Endovascular Interventional Strategies (The VEINS) conference, collocated with Vascular Interventional Advances (VIVA) in Las Vegas. The program featured many instructional as well as case-based sessions related to venous disease and interventions. A few of the focus topics included deep venous and venous thromboembolic disease, pelvic venous disease, and dialysis interventions. And unique to this years’ conference was a session on late-breaking clinical trials, one of which featured the pairing of diagnostic AI with an aspiration system (RapidAI and Penumbra’s Indigo Lightning 12) for the treatment of acute pulmonary embolism. The purpose of this study was to evaluate improvement in clinical and echocardiographic parameters after treating acute PE patients with computer-aided mechanical aspiration thrombectomy. Results revealed clinical improvement in all variables post procedure, including heart rate, respiration rate, systolic blood pressure, and oxygen saturation. There was also objective improvement in echocardiographic parameters. 

We mention this trial because Vamstar was also discussing the use of AI while at the conference, although for supply chain rather than diagnostics. And mechanical aspiration is one of the first areas of interest in the further development of our exchange platform. Since our inception, we have been applying AI to understand and analyze the entire tender landscape for healthcare and make it actionable for clients. We have also been integrating market intelligence as it relates to market access, the competitive environment, share analysis, and price prediction. Now we are working on integrating clinical evidence to add another level of insight to our market intelligence capabilities. We have started with interventional systems, assimilating scientific research on a product-by-product basis, and welcome input and inquiries from both the buy-side and supply-side as we move forward.

While the conference was primarily focused on scientific discovery, it was mentioned that there is a need to consider costs as well as evaluating efficacy. There has been a difference of perspective between the US and Europe historically, but COVID has highlighted the importance of understanding the impact of costs in both the short-term (inpatient) and long-term care of the patient. Part of these costs to consider are technology, which continues to be one of the leading topics when we are speaking with buyers. This is typically not an exercise to find the cheapest supplier, but one with the best value—in Europe this is referred to as the most economically advantageous tender. Very few buyers can do timely benchmarking before initiating a sourcing program, and most catalog items are either never properly classified or completely missing in each procurement run. We address these challenges by enabling intelligent sourcing and smarter data management with machine learning based workflows and analytics. We also use natural language processing data models that combine eClass, UNSPSC, eOTD, RNTD classification systems for data cleansing, transformation, and entity extraction. Sourcing and procurement teams can easily connect ERP systems and access all insights, schemas, and values to compile and manage master data records.

For more information on what we do, visit our website, http://www.idlewolf.com/about-us/ or get in touch, shane.walker@vamstar.io