GE Healthcare, CorTechs Labs Partner on MRI Scanning Solution

GE Healthcare and CorTechs Labs Inc. are teaming up to market an MRI scanning solution that provides neurologists and radiologists volumetric brain image data. The information is gleaned through NeuroQuant, CorTechs Labs’ MRI post-processing application.

“Accurate measurement of volumes of different parts of the brain may be a useful aid in the diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis and traumatic brain injury,” said Chris Airriess, chief technology officer of CorTechs Labs. “Volume changes in certain brain structures have been linked in literature to early indications of such conditions where more traditional diagnoses lack detection sensitivity.” NeuroQuant does this in an automated fashion, without user intervention, and is the only 510(k) approved software for this application, CorTechs executives noted in a news release.

NeuroQuant enables the acquisition of volumetric brain image data and automatically conducts accurate and consistent measurements of cortical and subcortical volumes targeted at identifying evidence of neurodegeneration, CorTechs claims.

“We at GE Healthcare look forward to collaborating with CorTech Labs, benefitting from their approach to providing quantitative brain volumetric information with NeuroQuant,” said Baldev Ahluwalia, premium segment manager at GE Healthcare, MRI.

“We’re pleased to expand our relationship with GE Healthcare,” said Guri Stark, CorTechs Labs’ CEO. “We look forward to working with GE Healthcare to empower clinicians with objective quantitative data, while continuing NeuroQuant’s growth momentum. In turn, this furthers our vision to establish NeuroQuant as the standard measurement solution for all brain disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and traumatic brain injury.”

GE has also introduced SpinLab, a hyperpolarizing system designed to visualize metabolic activity at the cellular level using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). SpinLab was developed by Research Circle Technology (RCT), which GE launched in 2011 to design technology in collaboration with scientists.

SpinLab can be used to noninvasively study biochemical changes in disease processes and improves the sensitivity of MRI by more than 20,000-fold, according to the company. With SpinLab, researchers can study the real-time metabolism of disease through visual information about flow, perfusion, metabolism, and organ and cell viability in living creatures.

Based in San Diego, Calif., CorTechs Labs develops and markets brain imaging solutions used by neurologists and radiologists in clinics and research centers. CorTechs’ flagship product, NeuroQuant, is a 510(k)-cleared software medical device that makes quantitative analysis of MRI images of the human brain a routine part of clinical practice.

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