Moving Health Ahead

Doctors using Vital Images’ Vitrea software “will send the patient to the CT scanner,” he says. “In two scans that take less than 15 seconds each, they will generate a whole bunch of images of the heart.” The software takes the 2,000 to 3,000 images from the CT scan and creates a three-dimensional image of the heart, removes unnecessary images such as those of the ribs and the breastplate, and puts all the images together in the correct sequence to create a video loop of the beating heart. This video, in addition to the results of a blood test, can provide cardiologists with enough information to determine if the patient has had a heart attack.

Acist Medical Systems, a medical device firm in Eden Prairie, is also working on the improving the diagnosis of heart conditions. Acist’s CVi system delivers contrast media—the dye that is injected into arteries to help doctors in viewing images of the arteries and heart—for both cardiac and vascular angiography. Instead of doctors using a hand-held syringe to inject the dye, the CVi system provides a computer-controlled way to introduce the dye into the artery. Pressure applied to the hand controller adjusts the contrast media flow rate and volume in real time. By automating the delivery of the contrast media, it takes less time to set up the equipment and complete the procedure, and the amount of contrast media used can be reduced. Contrast media allows doctors to see the patient’s arteries and possible blockages on an x-ray.

Kids with fluid in their ears are a common sight in doctors’ waiting rooms. They account for 30 million doctor visits and 10 million prescriptions for antibiotics every year, says Micromedics’ Curt Miller. Kids that experience recurring fluid in the ear may suffer from hearing loss, speech delay, and may need to have vent tubes placed in their ears.

The EarPopper, a device manufactured by Micromedics, is a small, noninvasive air pump that gives quick relief to kids who suffer from fluid in the middle ear. The device operates on the Politzer maneuver, which is named after Dr. Adam Politzer, the man who first identified the phenomenon: Introduce air into the nose on one side, while the user plugs the other nostril and swallows at the same time. Air is diverted up the eustachian tube, ventilating the middle-ear space. The EarPopper is available by prescription to kids, and adults who suffer from ear pain experienced after flying, scuba diving, or riding an elevator.

Celleration, a medical device company in Eden Prairie, is addressing the needs of patients with chronic wounds. Illinois nursing home patients that participated in a Celleration study had wounds that had lasted an average of 71 weeks. These patients were typically older and some had late-stage diabetes.

Kevin Nickels, Celleration’s president and CEO, says that his company’s Mist Therapy system, a non-contact ultrasound technology for chronic-wound care, is showing some success in treating these patients. “It’s a form of low-frequency ultrasound that creates a stimulatory effect on healthy cells and a deleterious effect on bacteria or pathogens,” Nickels says. One treatment consists of a five- to eight-minute session, three times a week, usually while a dressing is being changed. Nickels says that of one group of 25 patients with chronic wounds who were treated with the system, “60 percent of them healed.”