Level Ex, creators of industry-leading medical video games for physicians, has announced its expansion into cardiology with the launch of Cardio Ex. Their fourth specialty game, available free in the App Store, presents interventional cardiologists with adrenaline-pumping scenarios that push their cognitive, spatial-reasoning and decision-making skills to the limits – preparing them for critical cases they may encounter in the catheterization lab. The company will be publicly launching Cardio Ex during the American College of Cardiology (ACC) annual meeting during March 16-18, 2019 in New Orleans, Louisana.
Despite the high stakes under which interventional cardiologists operate – treating patients with life-threatening heart diseases – most refine techniques, train on new medical devices or encounter complications for the first time on live patients. Level Ex brings engaging training options right to physicians’ phones and tablets, providing a risk-free alternative that can be accessed anywhere around the globe.
Cardio Ex is the result of a unique collaboration between the company’s video game developers, who have launched top game titles played by hundreds of millions of consumers, and dozens of expert cardiologists from top academic institutions. The game leverages state-of-the-art audio and visual effects and proven game design methodologies built on cognitive neuroscience to drive physician engagement.
“Thousands of cardiologists have been removing polyps from colons and foreign objects from airways in our other video games, pushing for Level Ex to release a game in their specialty,” said Sam Glassenberg, founder and CEO of Level Ex. “In response to that demand, our Triple-A game designers, artists and engineers have been unleashed onto interventional cardiology. The result is our most challenging game to date that amplifies the thrill and intensity of the cath lab.”
Cardio Ex in-game features include:
- Reimagined fluoroscopy visualizations that encourage cardiologists to approach complex scenarios from a new perspective
- An arsenal of configurable tools from non-compliant and semi-compliant balloons, DES and PTFE stents, aspiration catheters, atherectomy drills, and more that can be manipulated in virtual patients’ diseased arteries to restore blood flow
- Seamless C-arm camera movement and streamlined guidewire manipulation that brings the physician straight to the action
- Over 35 levels, varying in difficulty, include drilling through calcified lesions, securing dissociated stents and treating high-intensity perforations and dissections
- Dynamic, original music scores that mirror physician successes and mistakes and connect to level themes, amplifying gameplay
- Cardiology-themed maze levels that test cardiologists’ spatial reasoning skills
- Real-time performance feedback based on speed, skill, and technique
- AMA PRA Category 1 Credit continuing medical education (CME) credits, available free to health care professionals
“We all grew up loving to play video games. Those games entranced and amazed us, and now, Level Ex has created a video game for us doctors that’s realistic, fun to play and educational,” said Atman Shah, MD, FSCAI, co-director, Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory and associate professor of medicine at University of Chicago Medicine. “It’s a transformational platform upon which interventional cardiologists (and aspiring interventional cardiologists) can genuinely practice their skills. I believe that as the platform expands, its educational and entertainment potential is limitless.”
Interventional cardiology is just the beginning for Cardio Ex; the company plans to release more content in general cardiology, electrophysiology and peripheral interventions later in the year. Additional game updates scheduled for 2019 include sponsored levels featuring products from Level Ex’s leading medical device and pharmaceutical partners.
Cardio Ex is available as a free download in the App Store and is coming soon to Google Play. ACC attendees can play Cardio Ex at booth #1309.
For more information, visit www.level-ex.com.
