RFPi, Inc. — Department of Health and Human Services STTR Phase I: NHLBI

Description

A research team of clinical medicine optical physics mechanical and electrical engineering disciplines at ECU has invented a new biomedical imaging technology Multi Spectral Physiologic Visualization MSPV MSPV is a proprietary laser illuminated hardware software imaging system that is non contact cm imaging distance non invasive no dyes or injections non ionizing no X ray CT and poses no risk to patients MSPV is a platform technology multiple clinical applications to visualize image analysis and quantify blood flow in vessels and perfusion in tissues in real time during surgical procedures and clinic evaluations The ECU team and its commercialization partner RFPi LLC have also documented derivation of Physiologic Status Parameters PSPs from the metadata of this physiologic based MSPV imaging This Phase I proposal will study two aspects of MSPV directly related to Point Of Care POC applications Imaging Optimization and Monitoring Accuracy In POC settings medical standards of quality and accuracy must be met to reduce complications and prevent avoidable deaths The Hypothesis of this STTR Phase I Research Strategy is that the MSPV specifications can be optimized for tissue specific blood flow perfusion analyses and the medical accuracy of PSPs can be validated at the optimized specifications For Imaging Optimization Specific Aim data are needed to better understand light energy tissue interactions across the tissues that can be imaged in surgeries at POC heart GI organs skin veins arteries muscle healing tissues to then optimize MPSV to tissue specific configurations For Monitoring Accuracy SA preliminary validation of PSPs for medical quality and accuracy is needed to design a portable hand held POC device for MSPV visualizations PSP determinations and trend analyses Optical physics research techniques with phantoms will be used SA to examine depth of penetration refraction reflection energy transfer and power density at different illumination wavelength configurations In SA normal volunteers will undergo MSPV imaging of the palmar surface of the hand at optimal skin MSPV configurations derived PSP data will be correlated with data from current POC monitoring devices The findings from both Aims will be important new data SA results should provide the technical specification pathway for RFPi to develop tissue specific applications for MSPV flow and perfusion visualization and quantification SA results should catalyze development of RFPiandapos s vision for a transforming POC monitoring technology solution Both results bring new physiologic data to POC to drive better decision making based on real time and trended data improve clinical care quality and reduce healthcare costs Medical technologies that give immediate new data to providers at point of care are evolving A new imaging technology that provides real time blood flow and tissue perfusion data has been developed This project will study two clinical application aspects of this technology Imaging Optimization and Monitoring Accuracy