Canadian manufacturer KA Imaging is seeking clinical and government partners for trials
With numbers still climbing, the novel Coronavirus has reached more than 2 million confirmed cases worldwide. As the number of infections gets higher, experts from different fields are trying to find ways to help stop the disease from spreading. In the article “How Reveal’s Technology Can Help Screen For COVID-19”, KA Imaging’s CTO Karim S. Karim says that “recent experiences have shown that testing for viral RNA may not suffice as the only test to confirm or rule out the infection. This is where we can help, as radiological imaging, in some cases, has indicated presence of pulmonary disease even days earlier than PCR testing1. Moreover, radiological imaging can follow the progress of COVID induced pneumonia over time enabling timely decision making about treatment efficacy or need for ventilators”.
The company is in late stage discussions to start clinical trials on the efficacy of Reveal in triaging COVID-19, and actively seeking clinical and government partners to obtain the necessary clinical evidence to determine deployment conditions and to accelerate adoption.
Reveal is undergoing IEC testing and will be submitted to the FDA for US 510K regulatory clearance in 2020.
The following list presents Reveal’s most important features, which could be helpful in the current crisis.
1. Dual-energy subtraction radiography
KA Imaging’s portable Reveal X-ray detector uses dual-energy subtraction radiography, a digital X-ray technique that is widely known for classifying lung nodules for diseases like lung cancer, pneumonia and tuberculosis.
2. One exposure, three images
With one shot, Reveal provides high-quality traditional X-ray, bone subtracted (which is ideal for pulmonary disease diagnosis), and tissue subtracted.
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3. Motion artifact free
Motion artifacts are streaks due to breathing motion that invalidate images and mislead radiologists. The flaw is possible when using conventional dual-energy X-ray systems
4. High DQE = less radiation
Ability to acquire an image with 50X less radiation than CT.
5. Portable
The Reveal detector can be moved to a patient’s bedside or used in the field.
6. Retrofittable
Reveal can be retrofitted into existing X-ray equipment within a few hours. There are 500,000 conventional X-ray systems globally with more than 10,000 installed in Canada even in remote areas.
7. Cost-effective
Conventional dual exposure dual-energy systems can cost as much as half a million dollars and require dedicated rooms. Reveal, on the other hand, has a list price of $125,000 USD.
8. Promising initial results in clinical trial
In October 2018, KA Imaging started a clinical trial at Grand River Hospital in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada to image lung cancer patients with Reveal. The initial results are promising. Watch some of them in the short video below.
Click here to learn more about Reveal.
References:
- Wong, H. Y. F., Lam, H. Y. S., Fong, A. H.-T., Leung, S. T., Chin, T. W.-Y., Lo, C. S. Y., … Ng, M.-Y. (2020, March 27). Frequency and Distribution of Chest Radiographic Findings in COVID-19 Positive Patients. Retrieved from https://pubs.rsna.org/doi/10.1148/radiol.2020201160
