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InfraScan Team (Right to Left):
Prof. Kambiz Pourrezaei,
Drexel University, Scientific advisor;
Peter Chance, NIT, Board member;
Prof. Banu Onaral, Drexel University,
Chairman of the Board;
Samonnoi Banerjee,
Co-Founder of InfraScan;
Baruch Ben Dor,
President and CEO of InfraScan. |
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InfraScan, Inc. is a medical device start-up
with the potential to become a leader in
handheld diagnostic imaging devices.
InfraScan is developing its flagship
product, the Infrascanner™, which is a
hand-held imaging device using near infrared
(NIR) technologies for the detection of
hematoma, or bleeding in the brain, in head
trauma patients.
An estimated two million individuals seek
medical treatment for head trauma in the
U.S. each year, and the worldwide incidence
is estimated at around ten million. While CT scans are currently the diagnostic gold
standard for hematomas, many head trauma patients do not immediately receive a CT scan. Yet for patients with brain hematomas,
prompt remedial action is essential to
maximize preservation of life and brain
function. The Infrascanner will address this
unmet medical need for a simple, low-cost,
accurate hematoma detection device for use
in a variety of settings, including hospital
emergency rooms and ICU units. It has the
additional advantage of convenience as a
bed-side application, since it doesn’t
require patients to be transported to a
central imaging center. The Infrascanner also has potential for use in emergency
medical vehicles, in developing world
medical clinics and in war and disaster
zones.
Based on the patented work of Dr. Britton
Chance at the University of Pennsylvania and Dr. Claudia Robertson at Baylor College of
Medicine, the Infrascanner unit is a small,
portable, handheld device based on a PDA platform with a wireless detector probe. It
detects hematoma based on the differential
NIR light absorption of the bleeding versus
the non-bleeding part of the brain, made
possible by the unique light-absorbing
property of the hemoglobin in the blood. A
pilot study with an earlier Infrascanner prototype involving more than 300 patients
demonstrated high sensitivity for detecting
bleeding in the brain, with no false
positive results and better performance than
conventional monitoring methods in rapidly
detecting late onset bleedings. InfraScan plans to repeat this test to reconfirm those
preliminary results with the final
Infrascanner product. |
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