VirtualScopics was issued a patent covering an innovation in dynamic contrast enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) analysis involving the measurement of tracer concentration in arterial plasma—U.S. Patent No. 7,103,224, “System and Method for Identifying Optimized Blood Signal in Medical Images to Eliminate Flow Artifacts”.

“The practical benefits afforded by the deployment of this technology are evidenced in the more than 20 trials we have completed in the past year and the growing interest we are seeing from some very large clients,” points out Jeff Markin, president and CEO.

This patent directly applies to antiangiogenic and antivascular agents in drug development research. For example, in oncology, drugs are designed to cut off blood supply to a tumor. DCE-MRI can be done to test whether the drug is working. The new patented innovation involves the measurement of tracer concentration in arterial plasma. This is otherwise a difficult task, according to the company, because arterial plasma is in continuous motion, which can corrupt the MRI signal.

“This innovation provides up to a 30% improvement in measurement precision over older techniques, allowing clinical trials to achieve significant results with fewer experimental subjects followed over shorter periods of time,” says Edward Ashton, CSO and inventor. “The sponsors of drug trials are therefore able to realize lower costs and accelerated time to market.”

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