Imago Systems Selected to Present at Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) Conference in Boston, MA
Imago’s clinical advisor, Dr. Sanjay Bhojraj, and CEO Thomas Ramsay (a TCT faculty member) presented Imago’s cardiovascular imaging technology at the Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) conference in Boston, MA.
Imago Systems, Inc. has developed a patented medical image software technology for real-time post-processing of standard angiographic and heart ultrasound images. It is designed to allow clinicians to “see into the images that see into the body” where the low-spatial and -contrast resolution characteristic of angiograms make diagnostic assessment of heart chamber functioning, structure of vessel walls and lumens, and analysis of hemodynamic flow challenging and potentially subjective.
The process is known as Imago ICE Insight™. The newly generated post-processed images provide improved visualization and characterization of vascular structures, including what is believed to be hemodynamic flow in angiograms and ventricular flow in ultrasound images, with the strong potential to improve clinical assessment and management of coronary artery disease (CAD) and non-ischemic heart disease. Newly generated single-image or motion-video sequences can be displayed in tandem with original angiograms on a monitor during Cath Lab procedures.
All vessel walls are more clearly visualized in the new images, allowing the possibility for accurate quantification of vessel diameters at any location of any vessel. When compared with the original angiograms, the new ICE Insight images have been shown to reveal the presence of plaque, vessel narrowing, aneurisms, ulcerations, and ruptures.
Additionally, emergent geometric (fractal) patterns display what is believed to be an Instantaneous Velocity Flow map for real-time analysis of hemodynamic flow, where thinning, thickening, or change in direction of flow might indicate the presence of deformed or stenotic blood vessels, pooling of blood, or presence of turbulence and areas of potential high wall shear stress.
Angiograms used for clinical validation have been acquired under an IRB encompassing different degrees of vascular disease and FFR values.
Imago ICE Insight software processing is designed to be cost effective, non-invasive, safe for patients, and capable of minimizing or removing the need for time-consuming pressure-measuring procedures. In addition, it is not limited to cardiology and can ultimately also be applied to analysis of peripheral vascular disease.
Dr. Sanjay Bhojraj, co-presenter at TCT