Philips Introduces SmartIQ to Address Trade-Off Between Image Quality and Radiation Dose in Coronary Procedures
Royal Philips, a global leader in health technology, has announced the launch of Philips SmartIQ, a breakthrough coronary imaging technology for its Azurion image-guided therapy platform. Developed in collaboration with leading cardiovascular centers, SmartIQ is designed to tackle one of the most fundamental challenges in interventional cardiology: the balance between image quality and radiation exposure for patients and clinical staff. The technology aims to provide clinicians with exceptional image quality while optimizing X-ray dose and contrast levels.
Key Features and Benefits
SmartIQ enables greater differentiation of clinical details through contrast-rich images with reduced background noise. For coronary procedures, a new ultra-low dose protocol employs over 50% less X-ray radiation dose compared to the lowest dose settings available with Philips' ClarityIQ platform. This setting allows acquisition of coronary cine runs at fluoroscopy dose levels, depending on system and clinical conditions.
Dr. Mark Winkens, Interventional Cardiologist at Elisabeth-TweeSteden Hospital in Tilburg, Netherlands, commented: "With this new imaging technology, we can go really low in dose and achieve even better image quality. It's a win-win."
Clinical Evidence and Studies
The first blinded clinical pilot study evaluating SmartIQ was recently published in the Journal of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography & Interventions. The study suggests that the algorithm scored higher on image quality and was preferred in the vast majority of blinded comparisons, while maintaining or lowering radiation and contrast dose. Additionally, the ongoing RADIQAL trial is designed to assess the impact of SmartIQ on radiation dose compared to ClarityIQ while maintaining procedural performance. The study has recently reached 60% of total enrollment and completed enrollment at European sites, marking an important milestone.
Philips will showcase SmartIQ at EuroPCR 2026, taking place from May 19 to 22 in Paris, France. Attendees can experience the technology firsthand and hear from early clinical adopters during dedicated clinical sessions, where clinicians will share initial case experiences and present real-world multicenter results.
Expert Perspectives
Mark Stoffels, Business Leader Image-Guided Therapy Systems at Philips, stated: "For too long, clinicians have had to choose between image quality and radiation dose during coronary procedures. With our breakthrough SmartIQ technology, we believe that trade-off no longer has to define coronary imaging. This is not an incremental step forward – it represents one of Philips' boldest advances yet in helping clinicians see what they need while aiming to further reduce exposure for patients and clinical teams."
Dr. Nicolaj Brejnholt Støttrup, Interventional Cardiologist at Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark, added: "Image quality is the foundation of every decision we make in the cath lab. SmartIQ has genuinely surprised us. It delivers the clarity we need at very low radiation dose levels."
SmartIQ builds on Philips' industry-leading ClarityIQ platform, which has previously been associated with radiation exposure reductions between 23% and 83%, depending on the clinical area. The new technology represents a significant step forward in image quality and dose management for coronary imaging.
