VasSol exhibits at world's largest annual radiology meeting

River Forest-based VasSol, Inc. (www.vassolinc.com), is exhibiting at the world's largest annual radiology meeting Nov. 27-Dec. 2 at Chicago's McCormick Place. VasSol will demonstrate its NOVA (noninvasive optimum vessel analysis) technology – used by physicians worldwide to diagnose and treat stroke -- at RSNA 2011, the annual conference of the Radiology Society of North America.

“NOVA excels as a diagnostic and treatment tool because it provides important quantitative data on what's happening inside a blood vessel, as well as enhanced vessel visualization that MRI alone can't provide,” explained VasSol Founder Dr. Fady Charbel, head of neurosurgery at the University of Illinois Medical Center. “No contrast injections are required, nor are patients exposed to radiation. And because it helps patients avoid surgery, it also reduces healthcare costs.”

Using data obtained by MRI scanners, NOVA noninvasively provides physicians with detailed, quantitative information (velocity, volume and direction) of blood flow through any particular vessel in the brain. (Stroke, a leading cause of permanent disability and death, occurs when blood supply to part of the brain is disrupted, causing brain cells to die.)

NOVA supplies three-dimensional views of the vessel being studied as well as a measurement in cubic centimeters per minute of how much blood is flowing, how fast it is traveling, and in what direction it is flowing.

NOVA , which received FDA clearance in 2001, is available at hospitals and imaging centers throughout the United States, Asia, Canada and Europe. Four Chicago area hospitals (including the University of Illinois Medical Center, Rush University Medical Center, and Central DuPage Hospital) use the technology, which has been featured in two National Institute of Health (NIH) stroke-related studies.

VasSol, a privately held company founded in 2001, also has developed NOVA applications to provide blood-flow information about vessels in the kidneys and lower extremities.

“When you can measure blood flow to different organs with a noninvasive, non-radiation tool, physicians can start to ask new questions about the cause of certain conditions,” said Charbel.