Biophan Releases Images Demonstrating Success Of Proprietary Solutions To Improve Magnetic Resonance Imaging Of Vena Cava Filters
These mobile blood clots are one of the most common potentially fatal threats to patients undergoing surgery. Vena Cava filters are implanted to prevent blood clots released during surgery from causing pulmonary embolisms; the filters can be left in place in the blood vessels on either a temporary or permanent basis. After surgery is complete, doctors image the filters to determine if they have captured thrombotic materials, and to determine when it is safe to remove the filter. Biophan's pioneering technology significantly improves the ability of doctors to image the filters using MRI.
Biophan has announced the online availability of a slide presentation that demonstrates the clear and useful MRI images of Vena Cava filters that the Company's proprietary AMRIS technology now makes possible. Biophan's patented technology is the first solution to enable the production of Vena Cava filters that can be accurately imaged by MRI; existing Vena Cava filters that do not employ Biophan's patented technology produce MRI images of compromised quality and limited diagnostic value. In addition to superior imaging, Vena Cava filters enhanced by Biophan's solutions use technology designed to eliminate the risk of heating or electrical current induction in the Vena Cava filter that could potentially be caused by the MRI environment.
The images shown in the newly released presentation employ Biophan's "active" MRI solutions, based on the Company's proprietary resonant frequency circuitry, which enable superior visualization of implanted medical devices by MRI. The resonance circuit technology was developed by the Company's Biophan Europe division, a firm in Germany formerly known as AMRIS GmbH, which is a leading innovator of medical devices and technology solutions for MRI. Biophan recently acquired a controlling interest in the company.
The unprecedented clarity and diagnostic value of MRI images produced with Biophan's resonant frequency circuitry opens the door to providing physicians a powerful alternative to x-ray cathlab imaging of Vena Cava filters. The images released by Biophan clearly illustrate the inadequacies of both x-ray imaging of the filters, as well as of MRI imaging of conventional Vena Cava filters that do not employ Biophan's solutions.
Biophan's MRI images of Vena Cava filters can be viewed as a PowerPoint slide presentation by visiting http://www.trilogy-capital.com/tcp/biophan/presentation.html.
MRI imaging offers a number of significant medical and diagnostic advantages over the interventional x-ray cathlab techniques currently in use. MRI imaging involves no dangerous radiation for patients or healthcare professionals, while x-ray imaging exposes both patients and practitioners to undesirable ionizing radiation. X-ray cathlab procedures also require the use of invasive arterial catheters and injections of potentially nephro-toxic and allergenic contrast agents, which are not necessary under MRI technology.
Furthermore, Vena Cava filters cannot be fully assessed by x-ray cathlab imaging. This also presents a significant potential danger to patients, since Vena Cava filters are designed to be removed after a few days, but only if the filter is clear of thrombotic materials. If an attempt to remove the filter is made while it holds trapped thrombotic materials, there is a risk that the clot will be released into the bloodstream, causing a potentially fatal pulmonary embolism. MRI images of Vena Cava filters enhanced by Biophan's technology allow a non-invasive determination of the filter's status, and thus safer timing of its removal.
"The technology and solutions we're working on at our Biophan Europe division represent an important step in our strategy to develop proprietary solutions that provide major device manufacturers the technology to create improved products," said Michael Weiner, CEO of Biophan. "Vena Cava filters provide a lifesaving function during and after cardiac surgery, but their effectiveness and safety is seriously compromised by the difficulty of imaging the interior of existing filters, which is necessary to determine when and if the filter can be safely removed. Biophan's MRI-visible solution enables doctors to give patients all the benefits of Vena Cava filters without exposing them to the dangers that have been traditionally associated with use of the devices."