Spectrasonics Imaging is involved in the development of less invasive ultrasonic medical tools. The firm has identified two seminal areas in which the company is actively involved in developing products under exclusive license for all medical applications: * High Intensity Focused Ultrasound Therapy (HIFU) * Tissue Parameter Imaging. Both technologies represent advances in Image Guided Therapy and Minimally Invasive Surgical Applications of Ultrasonic Energy, and offer the potential to provide significant improvements in the diagnosis and treatment for a wide variety of high incidence diseases. High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) is a noninvasive technique capable of selective destruction of tissue volumes within the body. The unique capability of ultrasound to non-invasively target specific tissue structures presents significant commercial potential. There is simply no other modality that can deliver deep, localized focusing of radiation for therapeutic purposes. This puts HIFU directly in the mainstream of developing least invasive surgical techniques. As an initial HIFU application Spectrasonics has identified cardiac ablation for the treatment of atrial fibrillation (454k). Tissue Parameter Imaging (TPIâ¢) is a technology which can greatly enhance the utility of medical ultrasonic images. By analyzing the spectral content of received ultrasonic signals, TPI extracts tissue specific information which is not available using standard imaging systems. Clinical data from several thousand prostate biopsy procedures indicates that our patented TPI algorithms can differentiate between cancerous and benign tissue in the prostate. The ability to identify and target suspect tissue is particularly valuable in the prostate because the standard biopsy procedure is essentially random.
