May 9, 2007 — Allied Minds, an investment corporation specializing in early stage university business ventures, has teamed with the University of Colorado to establish Illumasonix LLC, a start-up company that is developing a noninvasive method to provide quantitative information on complex blood flow in the treatment of vascular disease.
Current diagnosis of cardiovascular and neurovascular diseases utilizes ultrasound and MRI technology, which is limited in its capacity to determine whether disease is progressing or stabilized. Ultrasound provides good temporal resolution but only provides one-dimensional velocity measurement and angular error. MRI phase velocity mapping offers multicomponent velocity data and high spatial resolution, but poor temporal resolution. The goal of Illumasonix is to combine the advantages of MRI with the temporal resolution and ease-of-use of ultrasound.
Dr. Robin Shandas, professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Colorado at Boulder and of Pediatrics and Cardiology at the University of Colorado, Denver and Health Sciences Center, is developing a system that uses ultrasound and FDA-approved microbubbles to track blood flow. This process will easily provide real-time assessment of blood flow and detect blockages.
"Our technology is intended to create a new high resolution ultrasound procedure to better detect vascular disease," said Dr. Shandas.
For more information visit www.illumasonix.com.