Canada-based technology company PreOperative Performance is partnering with scientists at the Research Institute of St Joe’s Hamilton (RSJH) in a move that will help to solve the problem of assessing the quality and consistency of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI).
AN MRI technology, DTI enables 3D visualisation of myelin coating in the brain. Diffusion-based brain scans have enormous potential for diagnostics and treatment since myelin can be affected by many diseases.
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Despite the emergence of DTI in the 1990s, clinicians still struggle to assess the quality and consistency of the imaging technology and there is not yet an industry-accepted solution to validate the quality of this data.
PreOperative Performance CEO Fergal Kerins told Medical Device Network: “There are several different ways that researchers try to work towards a solution by using different materials or subject studies and comparing the differences qualitatively.
“Our product simulates the white matter of the brain, which has gaps on the outside where water diffuses. Measuring this diffusion of water provides information on the structure of the brain. To an MRI system, our product is a human subject. The difference is that ours doesn’t change over time and always gives the same dataset when scanned.”
PreOperative Performance has been named an Innovation Factory and Synapse Life Science Consortium-supported company, part of the Southern Ontario Pharmaceutical and Health Innovation Ecosystem (SOPHIE) programme.
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By GlobalDataParticipating in the SOPHIE programme helps to connect start-up companies with researchers to create projects for their mutual benefit. PreOperative Performance will enjoy a 12-month joint project with key researchers at RSHJ. This will see the testing and evaluation of their anisotropic diffusion phantom technology on their MRI systems.
While the technology is not currently used in patient care, it is hoped that PreOperative Performance’s data and the collaboration with RSJH will help future patients to benefit from the DTI technology, giving clinicians a better plan that has less risk to the patient.
The company believes that having this technology will lead to safer neurosurgical procedures and fewer post-procedure complications. The technology has been validated and is compatible with current scanning workflows. The company’s next steps are to work with MRI experts to further guide product development.
On the alliance with RSJH, Kerins adds: “Collaboration is key. When you’re trying to solve a challenge in this field it can only be done well in a collaborative manner and that’s why we, as an industry, want to work with scientific and clinical researchers to co-develop and iterate technology to get the product embodiment that works. This will ensure that we’re on the right track and our goals don’t diverge.”
