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LONDON (Alliance News) - IQ-AI Ltd, formerly known as Flying Brands Ltd, said Monday it has filed a patent for a type of magnetic resonance imaging that does not use gadolinium contrast agents.
Shares in IQ-AI were up 8.0% on Monday at 2.43 pence.
The medical services and software company intends to develop a technology which eliminates the use of contrast agents containing gadolinium when conducting MRI scans of the brain and other organs.
The IQ-AI invention is based on deep learning techniques. Deep learning involves the use of an artificial neural network. The network is given data and set a task. The network can then modify how the task is performed to improve outcomes.
In the case of IQ-AI's invention, the network was set the task of producing contrast images, but the only data provided were non-contrast images. The result is that the network became capable of producing something that resembles a contrast image from a scan, even if the patient had not been given any gadolinium contrast agents.
IQ-AI noted that while gadolinium has been used as a contrast agent for more than 30 years, it has "potential toxicity" and is associated in rare cases with nephrogenic systemic fibrosis, which damages organs.
Gadolinium is also expensive, being a rare earth metal, and takes time to administer. Roughly half of all MRIs and magnetic resonance angiography rely on contrast agents, with those containing gadolinium being the most common.
In the US, approximately 39 million magnetic resonance procedures were performed in 2016, which IQ-AI said equates to 19.5 million using contrast agents. If each dose was estimated, conservatively, at USD60 then just material expense alone would equate to USD1.2 billion.
"We believe the potential exists to develop, for the first time, a contrast agent-free imaging technology that should generate output comparable to traditional contrast-based imaging, offering significant savings to global healthcare systems. We now intend to develop the technology and conduct the clinical work necessary to prepare for worldwide regulatory submissions."