Overview
Illumasonix LLC is a Colorado company spun out of the University of Colorado in partnership with Allied Minds. Illumasonix will develop and commercialize a new non-invasive vascular disease detection procedure. This process will easily and non-invasively provide near real-time assessment of detailed blood flow patterns within the cardiovascular system. Our exclusive patent-pending technology will be developed and sold to doctors, hospitals, and clinics worldwide. Illumasonix's technology is being developed by Dr. Robin Shandas, a Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Pediatric Cardiology at the University of Colorado.
Technology
Current blood-flow diagnostics for cardiovascular and neurovascular diseases utilize ultrasound and MRI technology, but are limited in their capacity to localize areas of disease progression. Ultrasound Doppler provides good temporal resolution but only provides one dimensional velocity measurement and angular error. MRI phase velocity mapping offers multi-component velocity data and high spatial resolution but poor temporal resolution and is both cumbersome and expensive.
Illumasonix combines the advantages of MRI velocimetry with the temporal resolution and ease-of-use of ultrasound. Illumasonix aims to commercialize a system which uses ultrasound and FDA approved microbubble contrast agents to obtain extremely detailed maps of blood flow. The technology provides quantitative information on complex blood flow patterns, and thereby offers a non-invasive, near real-time assessment of localized hemodynamics for evaluating disease progression within the cardiovascular system.
Specifically, the technology uses ultrasound and contrast-providing microbubbles that have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Robin Shandas, a professor of mechanical engineering at the UC-Boulder, as well as professor of pediatrics at UC-Denver and Health Sciences Center, is developing a system based on this technique that can be used to provide near real-time assessment of blood flow to detect and assess blockages.
Tech Facts:
- Millions are affected by cardiovascular and neurovascular diseases annually.
- Stroke is the third leading cause of death and disability in the U.S.
- Evaluating vulnerability of vascular plaques and predicting rupture of vascular aneurysms remain problematic.
The Illumasonix technology is currently conducting clinical trials in Europe and will begin in the U.S. soon thereafter.
Future Goals
With better imaging tools at costs that are much lower than expensive MRIs, the Illumasonix technology will open a new chapter in hemodynamics. It will provide greater access to diagnostic procedures that were in the past too expensive to conduct. The Illumasonix technology hopes to detect disease conditions that affect the flow of blood before life threatening events occur.
