New MRI Technology Licensed to GE Medical Systems

A new imaging technology called Diffusion Tensor Magnetic Resonance Imaging (DT-MRI), invented by US researchers, has been licensed by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) to GE Medical Systems (Milwaukee, WI, USA), who will produce and market the product. DT-MRI allows doctors to make detailed, 3-D maps of nerve pathways in the brain, heart muscle fibers, and other soft tissues.

DT-MRI will enable researchers to better understand and diagnose a wide range of medical conditions. Like conventional MRI, DT-MRI is a technology that produces high quality 3-D images of the inside of the body, painlessly, noninvasively, and without using contrast agents or dyes. In addition, DT-MRI produces sophisticated images of soft tissues by measuring the 3-D random motion of water molecules (diffusion) within the tissues.

Since its invention, DT-MRI has had a wide range of applications. Scientists and clinicians have used it to map nerve pathways in the brain, diagnose acute stroke, and determine the effectiveness of new stroke prevention medications. DT-MRI has also been used to map subtle changes in white matter in diseases such as Lou Gehrig's disease, adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD), multiple sclerosis, and epilepsy. This information has helped scientists and clinicians better understand the development of these disorders, a necessary first step in devising new methods to treat them.

"Licensing technology like DT-MRI benefits the NIH, the private sector, and the public at large,” said Krishna Balakrishnan, Ph.D., marketing group leader of NIH's Office of Technology Transfer. "It motivates the business world to further develop the product invented at NIH and get it to the public. It also benefits further NIH research by validating its societal applications.”




Related Links:
NIH
GE Medical Systems