HeartFlow has entered into a licensing and technology transfer agreement with Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles (USA) for AutoPlaque technology—a software tool used to detect and characterise coronary artery plaque based on coronary computed tomography (CT) angiography images.
A press release reports that HeartFlow plans to use the AutoPlaque technology in its efforts to provide plaque assessment in future products, providing physicians with more information to help diagnose patients with coronary artery disease and determine optimal treatment pathways.
According to the press release, results of the EMERALD (Exploring the mechanism of the plaque rupture in acute coronary syndrome using coronary CT angiography and computationaL fluid dynamics) study, which were presented at EuroPCR 2016, demonstrated that the HeartFlow FFRct analysis—together with an assessment of coronary plaque—may help predict which coronary plaques are most likely to rupture. The HeartFlow FFRct analysis is a first-of-its-kind non-invasive technology that provides a personalised 3D model of the heart to help clinicians diagnose and treat patients with suspected coronary artery disease.
John H Stevens, president and CEO of HeartFlow, says: “In addition to assessing lesion-specific physiology, understanding and characterizing coronary artery plaque is important in determining the most appropriate treatment path for patients with suspected coronary artery disease. The power of utilizing the AutoPlaque tool in the HeartFlow analysis may accelerate our ability to analyse and characterize plaque in coronary arteries. HeartFlow is committed to looking beyond our initial FFRct offering to additional novel products that can help clinicians address other important clinical factors in the diagnosis and treatment of coronary artery disease and develop solutions that we believe will benefit patients who may be most at risk for acute coronary syndrome.”
