What is our primary use case?
My main use case for CARTO is PVI. I use CARTO to make a map or a LAT map for focal tachycardias in the left atrium, and I am a pulmonary vein circumference in the left atrium and the roof.
How has it helped my organization?
CARTO has positively impacted my organization by being easy to use for nurses, better than NavX in the past, and it is also more tangible for the nurses. The evidence has significantly increased, the accuracy of CARTO is excellent, and the time savings depend on the procedure. With PFA, CARTO is better, and if you use the normal energy source, it takes a long time. However, the development of CARTO over the 20 years has been such that it makes the dots quickly. The conventional way 25 years ago was a horror.
The specific outcome that shows how CARTO has helped my team or hospital is that the number of patients has increased and has almost doubled.
What is most valuable?
The best features CARTO offers are PASO, Parallel Mapping, and the feature of propagation for the visualization of the Tachy. You see the way from the Tachy, which is very good.
Out of those features, I find myself using Propagation the most because you see the Tachy and the way from the Tachy on the atrium or the ventricle.
I would like to add that Pattern is a big future function from CARTO, and it is very nice.
What needs improvement?
CARTO cannot become better because CARTO is good. You cannot improve CARTO any further, as the current version is excellent. I started on the old XP more than 20 years ago, and for me, it is actually no longer improvable. It is simply really good the way it is.
One function is very difficult, which is switching from bipolar to LAT. If you have already set up the mapping in the LAT setup and only switch to LAT later, this so-called gap means all the presets are gone. That has always been the case and I personally do not like that.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using CARTO for about 20 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
In my experience, CARTO is stable and very reliable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
CARTO's scalability is very good, including for the eye, and that is important.
How are customer service and support?
The customer support is provided at least once a month.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Before CARTO, we tried operating without PFA. The offer was too expensive. CARTO did not move and did not hurry, so we switched to Boston Scientific, which was a cheaper offer and simply more flexible. We now often also perform procedures with PFA from Biosense Webster, unfortunately.
What was our ROI?
I have not seen a return on investment with CARTO since it should not charge any more money if no support is provided. That does not work and is simply not acceptable. This is the case with St. Jude or Abbott as well, as with other companies. If the staff does the 3D themselves, the price has to be significantly lower. It is too high and it always has been.
Biosense Webster has always placed value on the fact that the staff they send once a week or once a month is refinanced through the purchase of catheters. That is not our problem. If they provide so much support, in my opinion, they have an extremely high density of support, then they must also finance that themselves, especially since I know some clinics where the staff has been operating the 3D themselves for years, and not any worse.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is that it is CARTO's biggest problem. It is much too expensive, and that would have to change in the future. Otherwise, it will be very difficult for CARTO or Biosense Webster Johnson & Johnson in the coming years. Good products are now produced by everyone, and there are hardly any weaknesses left.
The healthcare system will not be able to finance this in the long term.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Before choosing CARTO, I did not evaluate other options.
What other advice do I have?
Regarding CARTO's AI capabilities, it is hard to say. I actually do not need a computer to think because we can do all of that very well and we also have to be able to do it. If we leave that to an AI, we switch off the human element, and I do not think that is good in medicine. All the procedures we do actually also lead to a termination with tachycardias, whether they are SVTs or VTs. We do not need AI in the medical field with CARTO. We can and must do that ourselves. Otherwise, we do not need or should not operate the system and above all should not examine any patients.
I do not know the accuracy of CARTO and AI, and my CARTO version does not have AI in that sense. CARTO does what I want. I set it, I set the reference values, what it should see, what it should not see, what it should do and what it should not do, and it does exactly what I want because I use the system and define it exactly for it. In this way, I always reach the goal. My ablations are actually 100 percent successful. CARTO settings are for the ablation doctor, so to speak, and I do not need AI.
My advice to others looking into using CARTO is that more training courses for nurses would have to be offered again because medical training alone does not help in the German sector since the doctors do not operate it. This only happens in university hospitals or large hospitals. In smaller hospitals with approximately 500 to 800 patient beds, it is explicitly the nursing staff who does it. The focus has been on doctors for years, which does not work. The nursing staff would have to be much more integrated, trained, and further educated so that CARTO is simply operated because it is simple and easy for a nurse to use. CARTO would have to deviate from always only sending the doctors and also send the nurses.
I have given this review a rating of 10.
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