Featured News

July 25, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NOVA Applications for Renal and Lower Extremity

CHICAGO—July 25, 2007—VasSol, Inc., Chicago, IL, announces the release of NOVA - Non invasive Optimal Vessel Analysis - Version 5.1. Now clinicians can use NOVA to quantify volumetric blood flow rates in the renal arteries, abdominal aorta or the lower extremity vessels during a routine CE MRA.

NOVA Renal and NOVA Lx expand the capabilities of the NOVA PC, adding to the NOVA Neuro protocols already in use for evaluating patients with stroke, TIA and other cerebrovascular disorders. 

NOVA utilizes both time-of-flight and phase-contrast magnetic resonance angiography to quantify blood flow in arteries and veins.  The NOVA PC resides next to the MRI console and is compatible with 1.5T and 3T scanners. 

Over 65 million Americans have hypertension and identifying the underlying cause can be difficult.  It is estimated that 5-10% of patients with essential hypertension have renovascular disease and may benefit from surgical or endovascular treatment.  Quantitative MRA with NOVA gives clinicians a quantitative, hemodynamic assessment of renal artery stenosis in addition to the anatomic visualization provided by traditional MRA. 

According the American Diabetes Foundation, Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD) affects nearly 12 million Americans.  If left untreated, PAD can lead to critical limb ischemia, where the amount of blood flow to the legs and feet is insufficient to keep tissue alive.  Recent clinical reports call for more aggressive and earlier intervention.  NOVA provides a quantitative assessment of run-off in the lower extremities pre-intervention and the means to non-invasively monitor patients with chronic atherosclerotic disease over the long term.

---

January, 2007

Chicago - Breakthrough Medicine

Preventing Stokes

University of Illinois Medical Center
Fady Charbel

In the past, when diagnosed with potential for a stroke, patients often underwent preventive surgery. Now a two-year study conducted by the University of Illinois Medical Center at Chicago has demonstrated that two-thirds of those high-risk patients could actually forgo surgery and manage their condition with drug therapy.

The study was an offshoot of work conducted by Fady Charbel, head of neurosurgery at UIC, who last April patented NOVA software, that helps doctors measure blood flow in individual blood vessels of the brain. Whereas MRI technology could determine only the presence or absence of blood flow, NOVA measures its volume and direction, while also providing a multidimensional view.

Endovascular Surgery

Rush University Medical Center
Demetrius Lopes

Demetrius Lopes, a neurosurgeon at Rush University Medical Center, is a prime example of the "Nintendo generation" of doctors. To remove a blood clot or repair a burst blood vessel in the brain of a stroke patient, Lopes begins by making an incision in the patient's thigh. Then, using a joystick or touchpad to direct movement, he sends a catheter carrying a tiny device through the patient's circulatory system, tracking its course via a three-dimensional image projected on a video screen. Once the device has arrived at the point in the brain where the stroke occurred, Lopes can use it to suction out a blood clot; break up a clot and carry it out; or insert a small, flexible stent to repair or stengthen a blood vessel.

"Blood vessels are natural expressways inside your body," Lopes says. "We can do all the surgery now from inside your veins. It's not necessary anymore to cut open your skull after a 'brain attack.'" And this minimally invasive procedure reduces recovery time from eight weeks to 12 days.