An Ohio State University researcher is shifting his development of an MRI-compatible treadmill to his start-up company and plans to have a device ready for clinical testing in three months. The treadmill could allow physicians to measure a patient’s heart during peak stress more accurately than the echocardiograph and nuclear imaging processes now widely used. Each year, U.S. cardiologists perform approximately 10 million treadmill exercise stress tests to evaluate patients with possible coronary artery disease. After exercise, doctors obtain images of the heart using ultrasound or other techniques. MRI offers clearer images, but because MRI machines contain giant magnets and treadmills are built using magnetic motors and materials, the two machines cannot be located in the same room. Orlando “Lon” Simonetti, associate professor of internal medicine and radiology at Ohio State’s Richard M. Ross Heart Hospital, designed a treadmill without magnetic parts, substituting a hydraulic motor for an electric one that uses a magnetic coil. Early in the process, the university’s Technology Licensing and Commercialization Office began working with Simonetti’s team to license the technology, and Ohio State recently transferred the IP to Simonetti’s start-up, EXCMR Ltd., which will spend the next year building and testing the treadmill prototype. The company could begin production on a finished product by the middle of next year, Simonetti says. Early research shows that administering an MRI immediately after stepping off a treadmill can measure heart function and blood flow better than conventional technologies. The MRI-compatible treadmill could reduce the need for multiple testing while identifying some heart problems earlier in the disease process. Since it was formed a year ago, EXCMR has raised about $240,000, and Simonetti expects to raise additional money to fund production.

Go to: MedCity News

Posted May 20th, 2009 under Tech Transfer

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