NIH funds brain imaging app

Prism Clinical Imaging and the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee are the recipients of a three-year grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for the development and clinical validation of medical imaging software to aid in the diagnosis and treatment of brain cancer.

The $1.6 million multiinstitutional grant, which includes researchers at the Cleveland Clinic and Radiology Associates of Sacramento, Calif., will allow investigators to validate new methods for mapping brain function with MRI, according to the study’s leader and Prism’s co-founder Edgar DeYoe, PhD. The three sites are looking to recruit 50 participants per year as part of a clinical study on the application.

“We have developed software that gives physicians anatomical, functional and physiological image sequences in a single integrated view referred to as a 'stack,' similar to playing cards in a deck,” said DeYoe. “We’ve also created a new display, a functional field map, that instantly shows what the brain images mean for the patient’s vision and movement abilities. This allows surgeons to identify and avoid areas of the brain that may be essential for movement, vision, and other functions, thereby permitting removal of as much of a tumor as possible without impairing a patient’s brain function.”

The grant was funded through the Small Business Technology Transfer program at NIH.

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