Royal Philips, a worldwide leader in medical care technology, and Imricor Medical Systems, a pioneer and world-leading developer of MR-compatible products for interventional MR technology, announced a advance Interventional MR (iMR) lab solution for Philips 1.5T MR. The first commercially available configuration integrates Philips' 1.5T MRI platform and Imricor's portfolio of iMR technology and consumables, allowing an MR-guided workflow for cardiac intervention, deprived of compromising on MR sector strength.
Heart arrhythmias affect millions of patients globally, and catheter ablation is an established and increasingly using management for many complex cardiac arrhythmias. These technologies continue to rely significantly on X-ray fluoroscopy, which offers only indirect visualization of soft tissue while exposing patients and clinical teams to ionizing radiation.
MRI has previously transformed cardiac diagnosis by allowing physicians to visualize heart anatomy and tissue in exceptional detail. Bringing that same level of tissue insight in the intervention has the strength to supports physicians guide therapy more exactly, assess management response while technology and identify strength therapy gaps before a patient leaves the operating room all within the radiation-free work environment of an iMR.
"Our ambition is not only to advance what clinicians can see with MRI, but also what they can do with it," said Ioannis Panagiotelis, PhD, Business Leader, Magnetic Resonance at Philips. "Philips has a long history of helping clinicians perform image-guided procedures with confidence, and we believe MRI can play an even greater role in providing care. With this new iMR lab solution, enabled through our collaboration with Imricor, we're expanding the role of cardiac MRI from diagnosis into the treatment environment."
Panagiotelis added, "Cardiac electrophysiology is just the beginning. This iMR lab solution represents an important step in Philips' strategy to advance MRI across the care continuum, creating a platform that can expand into additional clinical areas while helping clinicians deliver the best possible care for their patients."
The iMR lab services integrate Philips' high-performance 1.5T MRI platform with Imricor's portfolio of MR-compatible technology and consumables to make a complete, integrated environment for MR-based cardiac intervention marking the next milestone in the organization' long-standing partnership to bring MR-guided cardiac intervention in the routine healthcare practice.
The first commercially available configuration involves Philips' Cardiac MR Suite, featuring SmartHeart AI-powered cardiac planning and well-developed cardiac imaging applications alongside Imricor's NorthStar iMR mapping and guidance technology, Advantage-MR EP Recorder/Stimulator and Vision-MR family of electrophysiology tubes. Together, these solutions allow physicians to visualize cardiac anatomy and arrhythmia substrate, actively track catheters, perform electroanatomical mapping, assess lesion formation and assess treatment response throughout solutions within Philips' 1.5T MR environment.
For hospitals, the iMR lab services offer a turnkey platform for MR-driven cardiac intervention, bringing together well-developed imaging, intelligent workflows and MR-compatible interventional solutions. The services are built on Philips' Blue Seal helium-free MRI solutions, lowering siting complexity and allowing installation closer to cardiology departments, supporting adoption nowadays while establishing a scalable foundation for future iMR-driven solution.
"With interventional MR, the idea is not to move procedures into diagnostic MRI suites, but rather to bring MR imaging into the procedure room, a room we call an iMR lab," said Steve Wedan, Founder and CEO of Imricor. "Our collaboration with Philips has always been driven by this shared vision, and with our combined iMR lab solution, that vision becomes a reality today. Pairing Philips' world-class 1.5T MR platform with Imricor's exclusive portfolio of advanced iMR systems and interventional tools creates the world's first state-of-the-art high-performance iMR lab solution. We believe the future is about advanced image guidance for therapies and interventions, and the future is here now."
The iMR lab services showcased in Munich at ESC Congress 2026 and is commercially available directly in CE-marked markets and, in some configurations, the U.S. Further Imricor configurations are expected to become available in the U.S. and additional markets, subject to government clearances.
According to Towards Healthcare, the laboratory informatics market is projected to grow significantly, with estimates indicating the market size will increase from USD 4.32 billion in 2026 to approximately USD 6.67 billion by 2035, expanding at a CAGR of 4.94% from 2026 to 2035. Laboratory information management systems is a subset of laboratory informatics significantly focused on sample tracking and workflow automation. Laboratory informatics covers a wider range of digital services, involving AI-driven analytics, ELNs, and compliance devices. AI-driven improves laboratory informatics by automating data entry, detecting patterns in experimental outputs, and predicting material behavior. It lowers errors, hurries analysis, and allows real-time decision-making in laboratory environments.
Royal Philips is a leading health technology organization focused on enhancing patient's health and well-being via meaningful innovation. Philips' patient and people-driven innovation leverage advanced technology and deep clinical and customers insights to deliver personal health services for consumers and professional health services for healthcare providers and their patients in the hospital and the home.
Headquartered in the Netherlands, the organization is a leader in image-guided therapeutics, diagnostic imaging, ultrasound, monitoring, enterprise informatics and personal health. Philips generated 2025 sales of about EUR 18 billion and employs around 63,700 employees with sales and solutions in more than 100 countries.
Imricor Medical Systems, Inc. is striving to creates interventional medical procedures better, safer, and more affordable by creating it possible for this technology to be performed under real-time magnetic resonance (MR) guidance, rather than under x-ray fluoroscopy guidance, which creating benefits of MR's superior imaging abilities.
A recent report by Towards Healthcare highlights that the laboratory informatics market is growing, as laboratory informatics comprises the collection, storage, analysis, and exchange of laboratory information to allows informed decisions and efficient workflows. Usually, laboratories relied on physical documentation and fragmented information sources, often leading to inefficiencies. Modern informatics services leverage cloud computing, AI-based analytics, and interconnected technologies to create a centralized, accessible, and automated information environment. Laboratory informatics enhances information quality, process effectiveness, and compliance by replacing physical workflows with automated, AI-based services. It supports laboratories rationalize processes and make data-based decisions.
