A Medical Device Daily

GE Healthcare (Waukesha, Wisconsin) and St. Jude Medical (St. Paul, Minnesota) reported what they termed a “significant” agreement to develop an integrated imaging/monitoring capability to cardiac catheterization labs.

The companies said they will develop a state-of-the-art cardiovascular ultrasound imaging system with fully integrated intracardiac echocardiography (ICE) imaging capabilities, for use in treating heart disease.

Through the collaboration, GE’s ultrasound technology will be integrated with St. Jude’s catheter technology to provide real-time ultrasound imaging inside the heart, with direct visualization of both blood flow and other catheters used during cardiac procedures. The combined imaging technology is expected to give physicians high-quality diagnostic images of cardiac structures and blood flow throughout the heart.

“These new visualization tools are like having eyes inside the patient’s heart, without actually having to open the chest,” said Laurence M. Epstein, chief of the Cardiac Arrhythmia Service at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (Boston). “The development of ICE technology has changed how we approach ablation procedures. We can visualize, in real time, the actual anatomic structures that we are targeting.”

“GE Healthcare technologies are utilized in 112 of the 120 electrophysiology teaching institutions today. This latest agreement with St. Jude Medical is a natural extension of our commitment to delivering state-of-the–art tools and technologies to the electrophysiologist,” said Laura King, global vice president, Interventional Cardiology of GE Healthcare. “We are excited about bringing together the expertise from two innovative companies to enable effective, minimally invasive therapies,” said King.

In other agreements news:

• NeuroMetrix (Waltham, Massachusetts), which is focused on the development and sale of products used to diagnose neuropathies, including diabetic peripheral neuropathy, said that it has signed an exclusive licensing agreement with EyeTel Imaging (Savage, Maryland).

The agreement grants NeuroMetrix the rights to market, brand, and sell EyeTel’s DigiScope throughout the physician office arena.

The DigiScope, developed in collaboration with the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins (Baltimore), is an FDA-cleared diagnostic device that primary diabetes care physicians can use for the early detection of diabetic retinopathy.

The DigiScope is specifically designed for ease of use by primary diabetes care physicians. It has been shown to be equivalent to 7-field stereo color fundus photography, the current gold standard for detection of diabetic retinopathy, the company said. The DigiScope works by capturing digital images of a patient’s retina through a dilated pupil and sending images via the Internet to the Wilmer-EyeTel Reading Center. The Reading Center then processes the images and sends the results back to the primary diabetes care physician within 48 hours. Those patients identified as having diabetic retinopathy are then referred by the primary diabetes care physician to an eye specialist for appropriate care.

• LighthouseMD (Las Vegas), a provider of revenue cycle management, integrated practice management and electronic medical record solutions, reported a partnership with Medicomp Systems (Melbourne, Florida), the developer of Medcin intelligent database of clinical documentation.

The alliance is intended to provide the company’s physician practice customers with advanced electronic medical record (EMR) systems when using the CareTracker practice management and EMR system.

Using the Medcin database, CareTracker’s EMR system will include more than 270,000 elements covering symptoms, history, physical exams, tests, diagnoses and therapy, enabling users to retrieve and correlate clinical information at the point of care, the company said.

Russell Keene, CEO of LighthouseMD, said, “Not only does Medcin offer an amazingly fast interface when used with CareTracker, the Medcin database has proven to have the most comprehensive content on the market.”

Planned for early 2007, the full EMR functionality of CareTracker will enable the recording of patient data using an intuitive point-and-click system. CareTracker users will also be able to incorporate their own custom data sets and templates into the system.

Current CareTracker functionality includes the ability for users to capture each visit in an EMR; automate order processing, including prescriptions, referrals, lab requisitions and testing; track allergies, immunizations and diagnostic history; and capture and store clinical images.

Medicomp was founded by Peter Goltra to develop an intelligent database of clinical documentation for use at the time of care.

• Competitive Technologies (Fairfield, Connecticut), which focuses on intellectual property licensing, and Extremity Innovations (Memphis, Tennessee), a medical device company, reported they entered an agreement.

Extremity Innovations was formed earlier this year by four “industry veterans” to develop medical device technology solutions for diseases and injuries of the extremities, biologic product requirements, wound management and prosthetic devices. Under the agreement, CTT will provide Extremity Innovations with access to technologies.

“As we actively seek to expand our product offerings in the orthopedic and wound care markets, we are confident that our strategic alliance with Competitive Technologies will enable us to more effectively locate appropriate intellectual property licensing or acquisition candidates,” commented Jack Parr, PhD, chairman/CEO of Extremity Innovations.