2019 / Vol. 9 / Issue-2
Advancing Tech Applications of 3D Printing in Healthcare Industry
Tim Kelley Founder & CEO
10
Most Advanced
Medical
Imaging Solution Providers
NAUTILUS MEDICAL Providing an incredible communication platform For medical imaging professionals
Editor-in-Chief Pooja M. Bansal Senior Editor Anish Miller Managing Editor Aishwarya Nawandhar Contributing Writer Shambhavi Mhetre, Vishal Muktewar Visualiser David King Art & Design Head Amol Kamble Art & Design Assistant Poonam Mahajan Co-designer Paul Belin Art & Picture Editor Asha Bange Business Development Manager Peter Collins Marketing Manager Marry D’Souza Business Development Executive Mark Williams Sales Executives John, Sarah, Bill, Amy Technical Head Jacob Smile Assistant Technical Head Pratiksha Patil Technical Consultants David, Robert Digital Marketing Manager Alina Sege Assistant Digital Marketing Manager Prashant Chevale SME-SMO Executives Manoj, Gemson Research Analyst Eric Smith Circulation Manager Tanaji
September, 2019 Insights Success Media Tech LLC 555 Metro Place North, Suite 100, Dublin, OH 43017, United States Phone - (614)-602-1754 Email: info@insightscare.com For Subscription: www.insightscare.com
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Editor’s Column
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rtificial Intelligence (AI) has entered almost all the verticals of business, automating and making processes more efficient and error-free. Healthcare, and specifically the diagnostics industry, is no different. This particular niche has welcomed in AI with open arms. While some are seeing it for the benefits it brings for the future of all mankind, some are worried that it may replace the radiologists, taking up their place in the medical imaging segment. However, the reality seems to be different. It is seen that the industry is developing further with the team work of radiologists and AI.
In a Symbiotic Relationship with AI
Number of patients are treated at the hospitals every day, and a large portion of these require to run some diagnostic test or the other. The medical imaging department of a hospital, although not visible directly to the common people, plays a crucial role in every type of treatment and the work of radiologists is never ending. With AI is the picture, not only can their load be shared, and rightly, but also it gives them time to interact with the patient and their clinical colleagues, making the entire process of patient management much easy. The schedule of radiologists majorly consists of tasks similar to the ones that require them to go through hundreds of images in a day, looking for any signs of defects in the scans of patients. Not only are these monotonous, but also the results generated are not accurate as the radiologists have tremendous workload and the outcomes need to be speedy. These are the tasks that they may not be very happy to do. This is where AI comes in. Integrating and automating such processes with the help of AI with ensure quick and accurate results and free the times of the radiologists for the tasks that require immediate and necessary manual attention. The need be aware of the rising role and advantages of technology and informatics is ever rising in the diagnostic sector. Radiologists should keep upgrading their knowledge bank and learn to move ahead in sync with the developing technologies. Being an effective assistant that AI is, together with the radiologists it can form a sustainable team!
COVER OVER STORY O OR ORY
08
NAUTILUS M E D I C A L
Providing an Incredible Communication Platform for Medical Imaging Professionals
ARTICLE
20 Advancing Tech Applications of 3D Printing in Healthcare Industry
CXO
30 Expert Advice What Digital Startups Need to Succeed in the Healthcare Space?
CONTENTS 16
Arineta Transforming Cardiovascular Diagnostics with Ingenious and Innovative Solutions
32
Planmed Oy A Pioneer in Dignostics Focused on Battling Breast Cancer
Aidoc Rendering Ingenious AI Solutions Tailored to Transform Radiology
26
HT BioImaging Detecting Cancer Beforehand
36
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MOST ADVANCED
MEDICAL IMAGING SOLUTION PROVIDERS
Game Changers of Medical Imaging Industry
A
shift from reactive to proactive care will be a big step for the healthcare industry. In this process, diagnostics has a crucial role to play. With improving medical policies and advancing medical technologies, the existing imaging procedures are made better and new procedures have been invented. Contributing to this transition are the organizations that are innovating their way towards an enhanced tomorrow. In our issue of “10 Most Advanced Medical Imaging Solution Providers”, we have listed the leading companies that are augmenting the clinical imaging niche with their novel solutions. On the cover, we have featured Nautilus medical. It provides end-to-end solution for medical and tools to enable professionals to lower costs, speed up workflow, all leading to better care for the patients. Apart from the informative cover story, we have also featured Aidoc, the leading provider of Artificial Intelligence solutions that support and enhance the impact of radiologists’ diagnostic power, helping them expedite patient treatment; Arineta Ltd., an Israeli company that develops and produces innovative cardiovascular imaging solutions; Planmed Oy that develops, manufactures and offers advanced medical imaging solutions for mammography, orthopedic and maxillofacial imaging; HT BioImaging that aims at saving lives and improving the quality of life of the patients suffering from life-threatening diseases; United Imaging Healthcare; Carestream Health; EnvoyAI; Lumendi; and RADLogics. We have also incorporated an interesting CXO from Tania Martin-Mercado, the Chief Technology Officer of YGEIA, and an intriguing article from our in-house editor. So, walk through the pages and enjoy a good read!
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MOST ADVANCED
MEDICAL IMAGING SOLUTION PROVIDERS
NAUTILUS M E D I C A L
Providing an Incredible Communication Platform for Medical Imaging Professionals
We are dedicated to solving the di culties faced by the medical imaging space in healthcare by enabling fast, accurate, easy, and timely communication and data extraction
Nautilus Medical is focused on building a platform for collecting critical patient data and images on healthcare networks. It converts all file types collected into a universal format and redistributes that information for patients, specialists, and referring physicians. Nautilus’s robust platform has been beneficial to more than a thousand facilities. These include more than 30 of the top 50 medical centers – Cedar’s Sinai, Harvard, Shriners, Cleveland Clinic, Northwestern Harvard, Columbia and Cornell Medical Centers, New York Presbyterian, Barnes-Jewish UPENN/UPMC, to name a few. The company has recently partnered with Samsung’s radiology division to offer a multi-featured solution for expansion into the market.
Every customer of Nautilus is treated like a high value professional that needs to solve mission critical issues within their radiology environment. The relationships the company creates become part of a special group of select users of the most thoughtful radiology software on the market. Nautilus firmly believes, “Being the biggest is not important to our customers. However, being the best is extremely important to our customers.” The Spark to the Fire of Nautilus Tim Kelley, the Founder and CEO of Nautilus Medical, is a soft-spoken person with many varied interests, including painting, basketball, and martial arts. This diverse background has given him the perspective on product design, ways to approach the market, and management of the employees. He has always had a philosophy, “Start with problems, then
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With all our solutions, we aim to lower healthcare costs, serve the community, and ultimately save lives
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I
nformation management in medical imaging is a very crucial aspect of patient care. Timely and fast information delivery, storage of the information, securing the data, as well as making it accessible to the right people at right time will help save a lot of money and improve speed to care. Taking these concerns into consideration, a radiology software development company, Nautilus Medical, was started with an aim to build the company value. Realizing that it was not just about building the company, but that they had the chance to affect healthcare as a whole. The company grew less concerned about earning profits and more about how it can lower healthcare costs, serve the community, and ultimately save lives. Today, Nautilus Medical provides end-to-end solutions for medical professionals working with radiology or patient information along with many more tools to enable professionals to lower costs, speed up workflow, which leads to better care for the patients.
offer solutions that ease the pain.” And so far, it has worked quite well for him! Being an optimistic person, he brings positivity to the company’s development and daily progress. Tim’s contribution to healthcare started with the growth of the first medical disc burning systems twenty years ago to eliminate x-ray film. Now, he envisions eliminating the discs and growing the largest secure exchange platform. Amongst his employees, he is known as a person who can see around corners and puts customers first. Tim believes, “Revenue is merely a by-product of how happy our customers are.” Voyaging towards Success Tim started Nautilus Medical with a team of former senior healthcare executives from renowned companies such as J&J, BD, McKesson, TDK, and Canon. This team wanted more control over development and came together to build customer-centric software from the user perspective. Nautilus, thus, began as a value leader with only a few key features to aid its growth and establish a reputation for quality and service. Having launched during the financial crisis, the company had to change its focus from revenue to strategic brand building. Through the years, Nautilus has grown to be a brand of high reputation with numerous highprofile clients. It plans on entering a new phase for the consumer driven healthcare space with special attention to patient services. Powerful Platforms MatrixRay is the main product offered by Nautilus. It is one of the most feature rich image and patient information platforms, available in the healthcare market. It provides various
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Nautilus provides a level of service combined with the delivery of feature rich and user friendly platforms that build long lasting dependence and trust
services that include storing of data and images securely; viewing images anywhere and anytime with robust FDA viewer; scanning film and documents to DICOM; PACS query and retrieve; EMR/EHR integration for reports, labs, etc; auto storing and auto routing studies; converting DICOM or Non-DICOM images; burning CDs and DVDs with viewers and encrypting if needed; importing files and CDs as universal DICOM; anonymizing and masking patient data; printing any file (PFD, Word, web page, document) to DICOM; receiving any HL7 data and adding it to patient folder; free text reporting and optional advanced biometric reporting; and clientless uploading and exchanging of images and information. It allows quick and secure sharing of images with patients, professionals, and specialists in the fastest, most secure way in the market. All of this adds up to complete
flexibility, total security, and problem solving that saves money and lives and Nautilus provides all of this at the lowest cost possible.
higher patient satisfaction, and better outcomes for new moms!
BebeVue is another prominent product of Nautilus, which repurposes elements of the company’s platform to deliver keepsake pre-natal ultrasounds to new moms at the point of care. Regulations in healthcare kept OB/GYNs from giving the respective moms the videos of their respective ultrasounds and created a billion-dollar boutique keepsake ultrasound business. Nautilus’ platform takes the clinical ultrasound video clips and creates a non-diagnostic keepsake video online with built in social media connections for easy sharing. BebeVue also offers the best patient education and a robust search directory for the practices. This education and keepsake video results in lower liability, better compliance,
Communication issue in the healthcare network is a major problem the industry faces. It is caused by fractured infrastructure, old equipment, outdated systems, disparate language protocols, and nobody to take responsibility and find answers to this problem. The key product of Nautilus, MatrixRay can take any file formats and make them compatible with other systems. This ensures that the images can be restored in other systems, saving nearly 20% of time when the patient gets rescanned for the same images resulting in tremendous waste of time and monetary resources. This platform can reduce costs, reduce rescans, speed time to care, improve efficiency, reduce aggravation, and possibly save more
Solving Problems, Improving Care
We start with the problems, and then offer solutions that ease the pain
lives, and may be used by any facility of any size. As healthcare is becoming more consumer-driven, Nautilus makes sure that patients have more control. Its platform doesn’t tie the patient to one site’s portal. It instead makes them a part of the whole Nautilus matrix of sites numbering in the thousands. They
receive free storage for themselves and their family. Using Nautilus’ platform, patients can view or share data and images with anyone. Staying on the Top Understanding its customers’ main problems and finding ways to best address those problems has been
tantamount to Nautilus Medical’s success. Apart from that, the company has ensured security, an issue which most of the professionals managing PHI (Protected Healthcare Information) find difficult to tackle. Nautilus has built the only private key peer to peer exchange and storage system. It is considered as the best method of protecting data from
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All your sensitive health data is safe with us hackers. Along with security, the company has brought in speed and ease-of-use in the medical imaging space. With an easy design process, most features of Nautilus’ platform makes implementation of processes simple and painless. Adding this with the affordable prices the company brings it at, makes Nautilus the partner of choice for the clients. Talking about how to move ahead, Tim jokingly states, “If we just do a little bit every day, eventually the task will become completely overwhelming.” Notable Achievements For its significant contribution to healthcare for years and intelligent solutions it offers, Nautilus has been honored with Red Herring’s Best Startup of North America, Chicago’s Top 100 Innovative Companies, HealthCare Tech Outlook’s Best Healthcare Solutions Provider, and CIO Bulletin’s 10 Best Healthcare Companies of 2019 among others.. However, the best achievement for the
company remains the satisfaction of fulfilling the promises it has made to its clients. “We keep hearing stories about how our platform helped in a mission critical situation and saved a life or sped up the time to care. That’s real impact supported by heartfelt motivation,” expresses Tim. Nautilus has been a trustworthy and loyal partner of various high-profile clients like Cleveland Clinic, Harvard, etc. The feedbacks it has received has been the true testament of its success, like “I have yet to see any other program have tools like this- very impressive”; “It’s done everything we need it to do and more, it’s been rock solid ”; “BTW, we are extremely happy and thankful for all of the time and effort that you guys have put in for us. I know that on
occasion, people ask for recommendations, feel free to point them in my direction. You will get nothing but blazingly positive responses.” Looking into the Future Witnessing the social conscience of healthcare, Nautilus foresees that certain players will emerge for their relevance to solving today’s issues. Having heard too many stories about big pharma, big insurance and labs that tainted the healthcare landscape, the company believes that there is a tremendous opportunity for it across all medical disciplines, including veterinary, podiatry, ortho, neuro, cardiac, etc. Nautilus aims to become a standard in healthcare communication.
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MEDICAL IMAGING SOLUTION PROVIDERS
F
ounded in 2016 by three young entrepreneurs with a dream to make deep learning applicable in solving real life challenges, Aidoc is a radiology AI start-up focused on using deep learning to relieve the bottleneck in medical image diagnosis. The trio decided to apply their skills and expertise in engineering, data science, and artificial intelligence to the field of medical imaging on understanding the direct impact of AI advancements on the radiology workflow to help improve patient outcomes. Within a short span of time, Aidoc is, today, serving over 160 medical centers worldwide, improving radiology turnaround times and helping save numerous lives. Aidoc is the leading provider of Artificial Intelligence solutions that support and enhance the impact of radiologists’ diagnostic power, helping them expedite patient treatment and improve quality of care. They help reduce turnaround time and augment quality and efficiency by flagging acute anomalies in real time. These solutions analyze medical images directly after the patient is scanned and notify the radiologists of cases with suspected findings to assist with prioritization of time-sensitive, and potentially life-threatening cases. Novel Solutions Revolutionizing Diagnostics Aidoc’s AI solutions encompass comprehensive coverage of time-sensitive pathologies and minimize bandwith spent on time-consuming tasks. It has FDA clearance for three of its acute solutions that flag intracranial hemorrhages, pulmonary embolisms, and cervical spine fractures. These AI solutions support radiologist diagnostics helping them prioritize life -threatening cases, subsequently improving patient care. Aidoc’s solution are the perfect radiologist aid - making radiology departments more efficient and accurate in their day-to-day work. 16 | September 2019 |
With Aidoc, radiologists also benefit from the state-of-the art deep learning technology that is “Always -on”, running behind the scenes and allowing them to focus on the diagnosis. The company’s healthcare-grade deep learning algorithms are based on the large quantities of quality annotated data, making its solutions the most comprehensive in the field. Why Aidoc? Aidoc is one of the only radiology AI companies that are already delivering clinical value to a significant customer base. It claims to be the first company to receive FDA clearance for AI-based triage of positive ICH cases for radiologists. The Chairman of Radiology at one of the company’s leading sites expressed, “You gave me the peace of mind that there were no patients with a brain bleed waiting for their scans to be read.” With Aidoc’s seamless “always-on” approach, every case with a detected acute finding can automatically be highlighted and elevated to the top of the worklist to reduce the turnaround time for the patients, especially in the cases where time matters most. It covers medical conditions prevalent in all settings- ED/Inpatient/Outpatient, including level 1 trauma centers, outpatient imaging centers, and more. A Mark of Excellence Aidoc was recently listed by the ‘Time Magazine’ as one of the ‘50 Genius’ companies of 2018. The company’s founders are listed on Forbes 30 under 30 lists for both Europe and Israel. Additionally, Aidoc has the most clearances for using AI to triage patients.
Elad Walach Co-founder & CEO
| September 2019 | 17
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Aidoc believes that technology should serve medicine, empowering physicians and helping them to be more effective and efcient. Our mission is to make AI a standard of care in radiology.
Elad Walach, the Co-Founder and CEO of Aidoc, is an expert in AI with visionary business insights in the healthcare space. He holds a B.Sc. in Mathematics and Physics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and has published multiple academic papers on deep learning. Elad began his career in the elite Israeli Defense Force technology program ‘Talpiot’ and then went on to lead the AI research in the Israeli Air Force, where he initiated and led several teams focused on machine learning and computer vision projects. Since the inception of Aidoc, Elad has spearheaded the company through three rounds of investment and drove the commercial availability of three product lines. With the support of an incredible team comprising of technology experts from the IDF’s prestigious technology units and clinical thought-leaders from leading medical institutions, Elad has raised the company to the stature it is at today.
18 | September 2019 |
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The Torch-bearer of Aidoc
Aidoc has successfully built a technology that helps millions get quicker and more efficient patient care. Learn, Innovate, Impact Aidoc has achieved success with the help for the three core values it abides by. Continuous Learning: Everything done at Aidoc is based upon continuous learning and optimizing to provide the best possible solutions to radiologists. Innovative: Developing algorithms and receiving regulatory clearances at an unmatched space, paving the way for future AI innovation in radiology. Impactful: Helping over 1M patients/year by providing to healthcare-grade AI to leading university hospitals, radiology groups, and private institutions.
Advancing Tech
T Applications of
Printing in Healthcare Industry
20 | September 2019 |
he advancement of technology in the healthcare industry has led to pretty big innovations over the years. Today, the industry is equipped with ingenious technologies that are making the lives of humans better. One such technology that has changed and revolutionized the industry is 3D printing. Originally intended to create prototypes, from digital space to real-world objects its list of applications has transformed the medical space. 3D printing has brought many thingsto life that were previously unimaginable. Let's look at the numerous applications of this brilliant technology that have enhanced healthcare and made various processes easier and efď€ cient.
Articial Prosthetics Over the years, the traditional prosthetics have been extensively used in most of the cases. But not many people can afford them. People from rural areas as well as those that are living in a warzone have limited access to healthcare, and available prosthetics can be pretty expensive for them. In such cases, 3D printed prosthetics pose as a better alternative- it can be made in a shorter time as well as less cost as opposed to traditional ones. Pieces can be forged and created according to the needs such as household use, physical activities, driving, etc. Since no two human bodies are identical, these new-age prosthetics can be customized differently, from the point of their aesthetics, tting, size as per the convenience of the patient, and efciency. Its extreme exibility and ability to adapt to numerous materials makes it perfect for everything, including, prosthetic skin, hearing aid molds, dental, and orthopedic implants.
Shaping the Learning Environment in Surgery Human bodies are unique, our anatomy is the same but still, there are many differences we have in severalorgans, say liver. Liver has a complex structure of arteries, veins, bile ducts. Any misplaced cut while operating on it can lead to drastic results, and sometimes even death. To deal with such scenarios, a very prestigious doctor from Cleveland Clinic has along with his team put forth the concept of the organ models. These dummy models are made with materials that would not only resemble the organs but behave in a way that the organs do during the surgery. It will help the doctors to devise better surgery plans. Also, such 3D printed organ models can help the students understand its complexity, practically. As these organs function as if they are real, allowing students to perform operations, repeatedly. This printing organ model if integrated into hospitals can provide a pragmatic experience for students. | September 2019 | 21
3D Printed Organs 3D printing has brought many innovations in the industry. Not only has the technology provided us with 3D printed custom models, prosthetics, skin, but are at a potentialstage of being implemented in human bodies by replacing organs like kidney, liver, arms, etc. This will help to efď€ ciently reducing the waiting list for organ donor industry at large. It can be helpful in creating a material that can used as a living tissue. To make this a reality, doctors and scientists around the world are planning to infuse 3D printers with human cells and are printing living tissues. This concept is known as bioprinting. Biomedical engineers can print an organ which is then covered with human cells. After being successfully grown on plastic or collagen, it can be implanted in the human body where the scaffold disintegrates leaving human tissue behind.
Medications
After falling ill, we usually go to the doctors and get a prescription of tablets. The tablets cost more or less depending upon the substance that they are made from. Some tablets are a little hard to swallow. By using 3D printing technology, the tablets can be made more porous than the traditionally manufactured medications, allowing them to melt in the mouth. 3D printing also allows to optimize the tablets according to patients' needs and the number of dosages speciď€ c to them. It will also help pharmaceutical companies to custom-print allin-one medications based on recommended ď€ ndings, lowering costs, and improving outcomes.
22 | September 2019 |
Medical Devices
Since its inception, number of 3D printed medical devices has grown massively and steadily. Devices such as stethoscope, braces, clamps, and vacuum pumps can be developed at a much cheaper cost. Not only that Additionally, this technology will allow us to create speciď€ c tools as per the needs in extreme times and geographical spaces such as underserved ares, warzones. This can enhance and help in assisting undeveloped or less-priviledged regions of the world.
Innovation drives any industry forward towards a better, more advanced tomorrow. Along with various other high-end technologies, 3D printing has shown great promises for the future. Not only will it help the medical students and experts discover new and better ways of treatment, but may actually offer a chance to form real organs, that can be used for many patients in need. With more in-depth research, this technology may help transform health care at another level, subsequently improving the quality of living for myriads of people! -Vishal Muktewar, Editor
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Arineta
Transforming Cardiovascular Diagnostics with Ingenious and Innovative Solutions mongst several heart diseases, Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) is a leading cause of death and disability world-wide. It is said to be the largest killer in the US, causing around 450,000 deaths annually. It results from atherosclerosis in one or more of the coronary arteries, in simpler terms hardening or clogging of arteries that supply blood to the heart, leading to accumulation of plaque on the arteries walls and, eventually, to obstruction to blood flow.
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The Success Safari
Typically, the patients at risk for obstructive CAD are referred to so-called functional tests such as ECG, Echo or SPECT (single-photon emission computed tomography) stress test, and if necessary, by invasive diagnostic catheterization and Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) or Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (CBAG). However, according to the American Heart Association data, as well as large scale studies, over 50% of the diagnostic catheterizations in the US end up with negative results - no significant obstruction. Additionally, diagnostic catheterizations are invasive procedures that involve pain, fairly high radiation dosage, hospitalization, certain risk and cost to the health system. Therefore, there is a need for another non-invasive, low dose, efficient, and accurate CAD diagnostics.
The CardioGraphe clinical results have shown that a wholeheart, single-beat, special-purpose cardiovascular scanner greatly improves clinical outcomes. Crisp and accurate 3D images of the heart and the coronary arteries are obtained routinely in a safe, painless, non-invasive procedure within minutes. In particular, CardioGraphe provides diagnostic quality results also on hard-to-do patients with highly calcified coronaries, high or unstable heart rate and obese patients, which other scanners cannot scan successfully. The scanner is less costly than other similar performance scanners, can fit in a smaller space and has high throughput.
Arineta Ltd. is an Israeli company that develops and produces innovative cardiovascular imaging solutions. Its flagship product, CardioGrapheTM, is the world’s first dedicated single-heartbeat, whole heart cardiac CT scanner, based on the company’s proprietary Stereo CT® technology. CardioGraphe brings an effective non-invasive solution for diagnostics of CAD. Arineta aims to be a company that improves the outcomes for patients world-wide through better and more advanced healthcare pathways. Located in the Caesarea Industrial Park, Caesarea, Israel, Arineta is a part of a long tradition of medical imaging innovation that began in Israel in the 1970s. Among Arineta’s scientists are the inventors of the multi-slice spiral CT technology, the cornerstone of CT imaging, and several other key technologies. 26 | September 2019 |
Established in late 2006, Arineta started as a small team of engineers and scientists investigating concepts for a new solution for accurate and reliable CAD diagnosis. Until the introduction of CardioGraphe by Arineta and GE, there were no dedicated cardiac CT scanners in the market. Development of the CardioGraphe started in 2012 and by 2016 the product was undergoing clinical evaluation.
Based on these successful results, the product was then submitted for regulatory clearance and gained permission for marketing in the US, Europe, China, and other countries. During 2017-2018 the company established its manufacturing facility and started serial production of CardioGraphe. Today, CardioGraphe is distributed globally in cooperation with GE Healthcare. A Revolutionary Product CardioGrapheTM is the first and only dedicated cardiovascular CT imager designed to provide comprehensive clinical information for diagnosis and therapy planning. The product is optimized for imaging the entire heart and cardiovascular system at high resolution and excellent motion freeze with 140 mm coverage at a rotation speed of 0.24 sec per rotation. CardioGraphe uses a lower radiation dose than whole-body CT scanners. Further, the imaging is based on a single heartbeat as well as the fast speed of the scan that reduces contrast volumes and the
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Dr. Ehud Dafni Co-founder and CEO
The proprietary Arineta design includes: • Unique Stereo CT® technology - Two overlapping x-ray beams rotate around the patient in parallel trajectories, achieving excellent image quality and wide z-axis coverage with no need for two detectors. • Focused field-of-view (FOV) - CardioGraphe’s focused FOV generates high-resolution images of the area of interest, while highly reducing radiation dose to peripheral anatomies compared to whole-body CT systems. • Advanced iterative reconstruction technology combined with Arineta’s unique model based adaptive filtering reduces noise and improves low-contrast detectability even at low signal levels. • Ultra-short gantry geometry that makes efficient use of the x-ray sources, allows fast rotation and reduces footprint. An Adept Leader Dr. Ehud Dafni, the Co-founder and CEO of Arineta, has a strong background in medical imaging. He has extensive experience in the field of computed tomography, where he co-invented multi-slice spiral CT, multi-source spiral CT, adaptive dose modulation, Stereo CT and focused Field of View with graded resolution detector. Before founding Arineta, Dr. Dafni served as the vice president for business
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We are dedicated to providing superior innovative solutions for safe, reliable, and cost-effective cardiovascular diagnostics and therapeutics
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need for administration of beta blockers.
| September 2019 | 27
Multiple Applications of CardioGraphe: 4 One-beat, high-definition, motion-free coronary images at any heart rate. 4 Provides high quality data for optional FFRCT analysis. 4 Comprehensive cardiac assessment for every patient including coronaries, structure, and Left ventricle function assessment. 4 Peripheral vascular imaging, from Circle of Willis, carotids to aorta, main pulmonary, renal, to femoral arteries. 4 TAVR, Mitral, LAA, and other procedure planning with dedicated protocols.
development at CMT Medical Technologies and CEO of CardioWatch Ltd. Previously, he worked at Philips Medical Systems in Israel and the US, at Picker International/Marconi Medical Systems, Cleveland, Ohio, and at Elscint Ltd., Haifa, Israel. He was also a faculty member at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel, and at the University of Rochester, NY. With such vast experience and rich skill set, Dr. Dafni has led Arineta impressively to greater heights of success and continues to do so. “Arineta is proud to provide the CardioGraphe, the world’s first cardiac dedicated CT imaging system. Our goal is to deliver earlier, safer and more accurate non-invasive diagnosis of heart diseases for millions of patients,” he asserts. Towards a Bigger Tomorrow Arineta does not plan on stopping at its first product. While receiving feedback from users and responding with enhancements, the company develops additional products in the cardiovascular imaging space. It intends to remain a leading provider of innovative medical imaging products. Believing in the numerous capabilities that Artificial Intelligence has to offer to the aspects of medical imaging, Arineta seeks to use AI in signal processing, image processing and diagnostic support applications. Additionally, it focuses on development of more complex, iterative, and adaptive image reconstruction algorithms for faster workflow, better image quality, and reduced radiation dose.
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Expert Advice
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Tania Martin-Mercado, PhD, is the Chief Technology OfďŹ cer of YGEIA, a digital healthcare company focused on home healthcare and chronic disease management. She holds various degrees in IT, healthcare, as well as biotechnology and is seasoned with a lot of experience at various prestigious posts throughout the years. Being a curious soul and always been fascinated with technology, Tania has been a part of various healthcare innovations.
30 | September 2019 |
Tania Martin-Mercado
WHAT DIGITAL
NEED TO
STARTUPS
SUCCEED IN THE
HEALTHCARE SPACE?
W
e hear a lot of buzz in the industry and in the marketplace about the latest in digital healthcare. From artificial intelligence, machine learning, remote patient monitoring and wearable technology to home monitoring and data, data, data – digital healthcare has morphed into one of the most transformative healthcare trends. While this is one of the most exciting times to be in the digital healthcare market, startups focused on this space need to make sure their product and service have three-fold impact: Improved patient outcomes, reduced cost of delivery, and quality of care. Cost, quality and patient experience often go unnoticed or ignored in favor of technical functionality. The latest and greatest digital healthcare technology will fail if the patients don’t understand how to use it, providers can’t implement it into their workflow, and payors won’t reimburse for its use. By starting with a patient-centered focus, digital startups will find they may need to slow down and get a better understanding of the healthcare industry, which operates differently than the tech world. There are more
stakeholders in healthcare that need consideration: doctors, patients, insurers, regulators; each of these stakeholders holds a unique perspective on the technology being adopted. Healthcare is complex because patients are complex. As digital startups focus on one area, such as a particular disease, they may stumble onto the multiple factors that contribute to that disease, what insurers do and don’t cover related to that disease and its symptoms, and more variables that directly or indirectly affect their product or service. The development of a product or service requires research into clinical practice, medical study, patient and doctor interviews, and several focus groups. Digital healthcare startups need to have patience – something that is unattractive to some investors, causing digital healthcare startups to rush into product development too quickly. Instead, involving key stakeholders early in the development process and fully understanding the concerns and perspective will allow these startups to impact the healthcare space where it matters most – patient care. The Medical Futurist published a fantastic article earlier this year that highlights why healthcare startups fail. Forgetting about the patient, not
including the provider, difficulty creating clinical value and overclaiming what the technology can do area just a few of areas discussed in this article. Another area often overlooked by digital healthcare startups is the need to integrate. Healthcare data is massive, and there is no “central repository” to draw from. By understanding and embracing the need for shared services, integration with other startups or providers in the healthcare industry can foster innovation and better meet patient need or demand. Instead startups may focus on siloed solutions that make it difficult for providers to implement into their practice, thus not offering value to the patient. By understanding how patient data is viewed from a provider and payor perspective, digital healthcare startups will find out how their product or service will be most useful. This is such an exciting time to be in the healthcare space. The satisfaction of making a positive impact in communities by improving patient care is why many startups dive into the healthcare space. By taking a few of these points into consideration, digital healthcare startups will find their endeavors bearing fruit.
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MOST ADVANCED
MEDICAL IMAGING SOLUTION PROVIDERS
HT BioImaging DETECTING CANCER BEFOREHAND
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oday, people are prone to numerous health issues and cancer is one of the major problems which has been growing at an alarming rate. Most of the people are unaware of what type of health condition they are living with. Various research has shown that early cancer detection can be helpful in saving the life of the person, in the cases where it would be a thin possibility otherwise. When the cancer is detected early, the prognosis and prospects of successful treatment are significantly improved. Yet, for some types of cancer and other deadly diseases, there is no current early detection examination. Or if there is, it is not conducted as a routine test or is not affordable. Additionally, current screening methods are problematic due to relatively high erroneous results. Furthermore, the time span for which the patients need to wait for the tests and their result may cost them their lives.
In order to help people detect cancer at an early stage, HT BioImaging came into existence. It will aim at saving lives and improve the quality of life of the patients suffering from life-threatening diseases. For providing this, the company has developed a platform for cancer detection that is based on a noninvasive, safe, accessible, and highly accurate system. With this system, initial screening and cancer imaging will become a simple and affordable process, easily accessible to the community. Its platform technology provides real-time results that will enable physicians to decide on the spot if additional, more expensive and high-risk testing is necessary. Prominent Personalities of HT BioImaging Shani Toledano is the Co-founder & CEO of HT BioImaging. She has a B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering 32 | September 2019 |
specialized in heat transfer and thermodynamics. Working for 11 years in the tech, defense, and aviation industry as a developer, system engineer, and R&D team leader, she has gained immense experience. Gideon Barak, the Co-founder & Chairman of HT BioImaging, is a serial entrepreneur with 10 exit records. He has held leading positions in several companies including co-founder and CEO of DSP Communications (NASDAQ: DSPC), acquired by Intel in 1999 for $1.6 billion, and Founder and Chairman of Envara and Butterfly VLSI, acquired by Intel and Texas Instruments in 2004 and 2000, respectively. The journey of the company started a few years ago when Shani’s father’s chest x-ray test accidentally found a 5 cm tumor in the place where he was experiencing chest pain. Unfortunately, the cancer was in its late stage and within 9 months, her father passed away. She then started reading and understanding the occurrence of cancer. Shani used her knowledge gained from her education in heat transfer and thermodynamics to establish HT BioImaging with the help of her professor of thermodynamics and her father’s oncologist. With the help of Barak and his entrepreneur skills, she started this essential company. Essential Products and Services HT BioImaging is now introducing its first application HTOScan. This application is a disruptive next-generation oral scanner for the detection of cancer and pre-cancer based on its own breakthrough patented medical imaging technology. The technology uses thermal diffusion to record the heat dissipation in the tissue which enables it to identify the observed discontinuity in the tissue as cancerous with an accuracy of 95%. It differentiates the cancerous cells
Shani Toledano, Co-founder & CEO
We are commi ed to save lives and improve the life quality of deadliest diseased patients -Shani Toledano
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from normal cells by exploiting their unique heat-flow properties. HTOScan does all these things: 1. High Accuracy and Location Coverage; 2. Non-Invasive and Low Risk; 3. Analysis and Results delivered in Real-Time; and 4. Detect malignant & premalignant lesions with no visual symptoms (submucosal lesions). The detection process based on the fact that density of the cancerous and precancerous cells is higher than that of normal cells, their shape is different, and their nuclei are enlarged. This results in the differences that cause a fundamental change in the thermal properties of the tissue (blood flow, heat capacity, conductivity and metabolism). The functional imaging technique is used for testing the response of the tissues to the thermal excitation over a short period of time. Therefore, it can be used to distinguish between cancer and other pathologies such as pre-cancer, benign growths or necrosis as a result of cancer treatment and surgical removal. 34 | September 2019 |
The operating process of HTOScan is based on the principle which involves short, safe, and focused heating followed by tracking the heat expansion and absorption in the tissue. The system is a combination of a cloud-based database where the data is stored. Further, the data is processed using a unique proprietary analysis algorithm, using signal analysis, machine learning and more artificial intelligence techniques of image pattern recognition based on an evergrowing bank of data. Future Goals HT BioImaging has a roadmap for the next 2 years for the growth of the company. It plans on the validation of 300 patients through an algorithm along with oral device marketing version, pivotal trial, CE-Mark + initial commercialization in Europe, and FDA Approval + initial commercialization in US.
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MOST ADVANCED
MEDICAL IMAGING SOLUTION PROVIDERS
Mr. Jan Moed Managing Director
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Planmed Oy A Pioneer in Diagnostics Focused on Battling Breast Cancer
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round 2.1 million women around the world are reported to be suffering from breast cancer according to the WHO, making it the most common type of cancer found in women. Not only has the disease spread substantially but has also proved to be most fatal form of cancer, causing the demise of over 627,000 women in 2018. Additionally, these numbers are reported to be increasing with every passing day. Diagnosis and screening of breast cancer in the early stages has become pivotal to bring down the number of women affected by the disease. There are various solutions available to enable this; however the shortage of resources has made it difficult and most of the women are diagnosed in later stages, increasing the fatality rate. One of the leading companies in the world that is fighting against breast cancer by offering comprehensive product portfolio in the field of mammography is Planmed Oy. It has been battling this deadly disease through sophisticated technology, wellknown imaging performance, user friendliness and good ergonomics. Established in 1987 in Helsinki, Finland, Planmed Oy develops, manufactures and offers advanced medical imaging solutions for mammography, orthopedic and maxillofacial imaging. It is an integral part of the Finnish Family owned Planmeca Group, the largest privately owned dental manufacturing company in the world. Planmed Oy has always ensured to stay a step ahead of its contemporaries owing to its in-house researchers and designers dedicated to innovation and adaption of emerging technologies. The company has developed the advanced and unique 3D imaging of extremities and head & neck and is on its way to becoming the forerunner in 3D orthopedic and maxillofacial imaging in the industry. The story of Planmed Oy dates back to 1971, when its parent compant, Planmeca Oy, was incepted. Today, Planmed Oy’s medical imaging solutions can be found in
more than 80 countries worldwide and the company is continuously expanding, entering new markets and providing the latest technology to leading clinics and hospitals around the world. Momentous Benchmarks Although, Planmeca is a dental company at its foundation, it expanded into the medical diagnostic field in 1989 though its subsidiary company- Planmed Oy. In the same year of its establishment, Planmed Oy announced its first product, Planmed Sophie Mammography, at the RSNA meeting. Many of the units installed back then by the company are still in use today. This indicates the robustness, high quality and well-made design- all the characteristics the company is known for even now. In 1991, the company launched Planmed Cytoguide, a biopsy needle guidance system for stereotactic breast biopsy, and a year later, it brought the unit for mobile mammography to the market, known as Planmed Sophie Mobile. Towards the start of the next decade, Planmed Oy was developing another one of its remarkable products, the MaxView™ Breast Positioning System. This system maximizes the field of view in mammography by enabling the detection of even the smallest lesions even closer to the chest wall that otherwise might go undetected. Further, in 2005, the company delivered the first fully digital mammography unit called Planmed Nuance, along with DigiGuide for digital stereotactics and Planmed CAD for computer-aided detection. In the year 2010, Planmed Oy expandedits medical portfolio into revolutionary new concept for low dose 3D orthopedic imaging by launching Planmed Verity®. Furthermore, the company introduced its award-winning digital mammography system with Digital Breast Tomosynthesis capability, Planmed Clarity Product Family, in 2016, and extended mammography product portfolio again in 2018 by launching Clarity S Digital | September 2019 | 37
“We want to aid in better patient care through pioneering health care solutions that improve the daily workow of medical professionals around the world” Mammography. The innovations and simultaneously the growth of the company continues. Substantial Product Portfolio Planmed Oy has two different product lines- mammograpy and orthopedic and head and neck imaging. More than 10% of the company’s revenue is used as R&D expenseand it has developed everything in-house with a sound know-how and advance technologies to take the medical imaging industry a step ahead. All of Planmed Oy’s products have been designed with the collaboration of users and special attention is given to the ergonomics, for both- the users and the patients. As seen earlier, Planmed Clarity Mammography systems have been developed gradually, through the years, and they provide outstanding image quality and enable a fast and reliable workflow in all situations – from screenings to diagnostic imaging to biopsy procedures. This group incorporates Planmed Clarity 3D and Planmed Clarity 2D digital mammography system along with Planmed Clarity™ Flow touch control with dual touchscreens. Additionally, the company ensures positive patient experience through an impressive design to reduce patient anxiety. It encourages increasing number of women to participate in breast cancer screenings. In orthopedic imaging, Planmed Oy was the first company to bring the CBCT (ConeBeam Computed Tomography) for extremities to the industry. This 3D technology by Planmed is widely used in maxillofacial and dental imaging and is highly suitable for bony structures. Adding to this is the Planmed Verity, a revolutionary system that can provide images of the foot and ankle under a natural load. The Prodigious Leaders Mr Heikki Kyöstilä, the Founder and President of Planmeca Group, is a passionate entrepreneur and a hands38 | September 2019 |
on leader. His presence has been a rich source of inspiration for all those working at the company. Talking about the ingredients to Planmed Oy’s recipe of success, Heikki says, “Strong commitment to building customer relationships and passion for innovation guide everything we do. They give us the focus to consistently develop revolutionary technology and gain a deep understanding of the needs of dental and healthcare professionals. These values have led us to the forefront of our industry.” Another pair of hands, which have crafted the successful story of Planmed Oy, are that of Mr. Jan Moed, the Managing Director of Planmed Oy. He has an extensive experience in the healthcare space and has held various reputable positions in Planmeca over last 20 years. With his great professional knowledge and enriched experience in health technology, he has significantly contributed towards the health tech innovations that have the power to change the world. He is also the Vice Member of the Board of the Finnish Health Technology Association. Jan is a true change maker and visionary leader in the health care industry. Awards and Accolades For its innovative products, dedication and hard work, Planmed Oy has been honored with several awards, including Fennia Prize 2017 and Red Dot 2016 Design Award for Planmed Clarity Mammography unit. The company has also received Fennia Prize 2012, MDEA 2012 Gold and Best in Show and Red Dot 2012 Design Award for Planmed Verity orthopedic imaging equipment. Future Roadmap For the coming future, Planmed Oy plans to continue on the path it started, developing more advanced medical devices by utilizing its groundbreaking in-house algorithms. It aims to produce affordable high-tech medical equipment that will save lives.