CISTIB research group of the University Pompeu Fabra has come up with new 'software' to improve cardiac dysfunctions evaluation
It’s named CardioSuite and it’s in its test phase. Researchers foresee that when it reaches the markets, it will reduce the risk in patients who undergo cardiovascular therapies.
BY BIOCAT
Cardiovascular illnesses and heart attacks cause 17.5 million deaths per year worldwide, according to the World Heart Federation. This figure is the same as the result of adding up deaths provoked by AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, diabetes, cancer and chronic respiratory pathologies. Approximately two million of these deaths are within the European Union countries.
Spain is, with France, Switzerland and Italy, one of the countries with minor risk of mortality for this type of illnesses, but in spite of this, it represents the main cause of death. Men are the group of population more affected. Spanish communities like Extremadura and Andalusia stand on top of the ranking with more risk, while the Region of Valencia, and Balearic and Canary Islands are slowly getting close to the top.
Computational analysis techniques can improve this situation considerably. The research group for Center for Computational Imaging & Simulation Technologies in Biomedicine (CISTIB) of the University Pompeu Fabra is working in the project VALUE CardioSuite to convert a prototype developed on the platform GIMIAS (Graphical Interface for Medical Image Analysis and Simulation), in the area of multimodal images analyses of the heart, in a commercial product to supply sanitary and medical professionals with an innovative tool to support clinical decision in cardiac dysfunction cases. This new product will be capable of:
- Supplying new diagnoses rates of cardiac illnesses.
- Improving the rates that are used for the selection of patients who can reply favorably to a therapy.
- Reducing the risk of patients who undergo cardiovascular therapies.
- Reducing the cost they represent for the public health.
At present, commercial software in the market and in use at sanitary centers is of a modality alone. CardioSuite will be able to integrate information from different modalities, providing thus a complete heart image.
CISTIB has received a 76 thousand Euros subsidy payment –through the projects of technological valuation VALORTEC of ACC1Ó– for the development of this project, which has also the participation of Quirón Hospital Group and Innocat, company specialized in technology transfer.