A Medical Device Daily

Imaging Diagnostic Systems (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) said it has been awarded its 21st U.S. patent, "Apparatus and Method for Acquiring Time-Resolved Measurements Utilizing Direct Digitization of the Temporal Point Spread Function of the Detected Light."

This invention, conceived by Steven Ponder, PhD, director of advanced development, and Robert Wake, VP of engineering, covers a key technology for time-resolved optical imaging which improves the quality of the imaging data and decreases the time required to acquire the image data.

The invention exploits a long-established trend in integrated circuit evolution to advance the acquisition of time-resolved image data for optical imaging of human and animal subjects, the company said.

"Time-resolved CTLM [Computed Tomography Laser Mammography] imaging of the breast can provide quantitative information that may be used to discriminate between malignant and benign lesions. However, the technique is inherently more time consuming than our standard continuous wave CTLM scanning method, and it requires sophisticated and expensive circuitry to make accurate measurements of the very short pulses of light used in time-resolved imaging. This invention exploits recent advances in the speed of digital acquisition components in order to reduce the cost and complexity of time-resolved measurement systems," Ponder said.

The invention also will reduce the costs of what has been an otherwise prohibitively expensive technology, namely efficient time-resolved optical imaging, whether computed tomography or topography, the company said.

Imaging Diagnostic Systems has developed an imaging device to aid in the detection and management of breast cancer. The CTLM system is a new breast imaging system that uses laser technology and algorithms to create 3-D images of the breast.