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Company
Portfolio Data
Back to Company SearchULTRAVISION CORP
Address
11911 US HIGHWAY 1 STE 204N PALM BEACH, FL, 33408-2862
USA
UEI: RL43GNGYN133
Number of Employees: N/A
HUBZone Owned: No
Woman Owned: No
Socially and Economically Disadvantaged: No
SBIR/STTR Involvement
Year of first award: 2002
7
Phase I Awards
3
Phase II Awards
42.86%
Conversion Rate
$863,437
Phase I Dollars
$3,211,914
Phase II Dollars
$4,075,351
Total Awarded
Awards
Investigate a practical high sensitivity PVDF multielement SBCT ultrasound transd
Amount: $150,000 Topic: NIBIB
DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The world market for medical ultrasound transducers exceeds one billion dollars annually, with an average cost to the physician exceeding 5,000 for each transducer. Transducers are made almost exclusively from lead zirconate titanate (PZT), a ceramic which has undesirable narrow bandwidth characteristics that limit the image's axial resolution. A challenge by Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducers (CMUT) over the last ten years has not made any impact on PZT'sexclusivity in this large market. This application, to make transducers from Polyvinylidene (PVDF), is grounded in a proven model and formal analysis which finds that multiple layers of low cost PVDF when stacked in a unique pattern (Switched Barker CodeTransducer (SBCT)), preserves the material's extremely wide bandwidth and overcomes the PVDF's low dielectric characteristics in an innovative electronic coupling method. The SBCT modeling further predicts the pulse-echo sensitivity of an eleven layer SBCTto be equal or better than PZT. The lithographically produced multi-element transducer's layers will be bonded by newly developed nanoglue which provides a nanometer layer separation and will facilitate the simple low cost assembly of thousands of transducers per hour by commercially available pick and place equipment. Transducers manufactured by the proposed method can replace PZT transducers in all 25 of the applications where transducers are in production today, from OB/GYN to disposable intra cardiac transducers. This method also yields improvements in resolution, sensitivity, and cost. Simple lithographic methods will define the transducer's characteristics of size, number of elements, shape and use. This will allow many custom transducers to be constructed at very low cost for frequencies from 100 KHz through to 40 MHz. The speckle that is a characteristic of today's ultrasound images will become more detailed due to the much higher bandwidth, but simultaneous frequency compounding will also become much more effective rendering clearer images of overall higher resolution and deeper penetration. Modalities such as elastography will benefit greatly in diagnostic specificity from this bandwidth improvement. A thirteen layer 15 MHz SBCT PVDF transducer will be constructed in this project which can be compared with the company's production 15 MHz PZT transducer (60% bandwidth) that is primarily used in preclinical elastography and photoacoustics, where bandwidth of transmission and reception can be quantitatively and separately evaluated. This proposed method will allow transducers to be constructed for tens of dollars which greatly reduces the projected physician's cost, and this, plus the projected gains in resolution, can be expected to have a majoreffect on the quality and cost of health care. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: In this project medical ultrasound transducers will be constructed by a multilayer plastic (PVDF) using Barker Coded arrangement that provides equivalent sensitivity to today's state of the art ceramic (PZT) transducers at less than 1/10 of the cost and provides extremely high bandwidth for superior axial resolution that wil find application in the new fields of elastography and photoacoustics. The method canbe applied to all transducers of all applications by low cost lithography and production an be accommodated in thousands per hour by commercial electronic pick and place machines. The current 1 billion spent on medical transducers peryear will be greatly reduced while providing clearer, higher resolution ultrasound images with higher diagnostic use.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase I
2012
HHS
NIH
LOW COST MULTI-MODAL ARRAY BASED SMALL ANIMAL SCANNER
Amount: $815,722 Topic: NIBIB
DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Low cost high frequency (15, 20 and 25 MHz), and high resolution medical imaging linear array transducers will be designed and constructed for commercial sale under the direction and design of the NIH Resource Center for Ultrasonic Transducer Technology at the University of Southern California. A newly developed high performance ultrasonic scanner, the UltraVision, with the unique feature of having its high speed digital functions entirely within a large Field Programmable Gate Array chip, will be reprogrammed to accommodate the transducers. The UltraVision supports the very advanced features of elastography and optoacoustics and these modes will continue to be functional at these high frequencies. The system will initially be targeted to the morphological and functional imaging of cancer tumors in small animals. The animal studies will be under the direction of the Biomedical Engineering Department of the University of Texas at Austin where Associate Professor Stanislav Emelianov has already guided the UltraVision's design of optoacoustics and elastography. The initial aim is to provide researchers with an accessible tool for cancer research in small animals that will reduce the cost of the science and animal usage. Bringing the new modalities of functional imaging will also increase the specificity of cancer detection and staging. The long term goal is to develop an instrument that will be capable of supporting the emerging field of molecular specific imaging with antibodyconjugated nano particles. This new field of optoacoustic imaging of nano particles is very compelling due to their sensitivity, the ability to synthesize their optical spectral absorption, and their non-toxicity. The transducers will be constructed on a2-2 piezocomposite design known to the investigators Drs. Cannata and Shung and transferred to WinProbe where they will be set up for construction in volumes to be commercialized. The modification to the UltraVision will be largely performed in Very High Speed Integrated Circuit Hardware Description Language, which is not a simple task but it is the only method of accommodating the needs of performing the functions at the required speeds and costs. The acoustic lines will be formed by interlacing and cross-correlation to achieve a very high resolution performance. As the UltraVision Medical Ultrasound System is being commercialized for Breast cancer discrimination and the ageing of thrombi, its price savings from production volume will be shared into the research environment. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: This project develops high frequency transducers for a newly developed and uniquely designed medical ultrasonic scanner to image small anatomical structures and to display their functionality. Initiallytargeted for use in the research of cancer with small animals, its future is seen in the emerging field of functional imaging of the human sentinel lymph nodes with contrast of cancer attaching nano particles. The modifications to the system will be designed to preserve the scanners very low equipment cost.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase II
2011
HHS
NIH
LOW COST MULTI-MODAL ARRAY BASED SMALL ANIMAL SCANNER
Amount: $139,970 Topic: NIBIB
DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Low cost high frequency (15, 20 and 25 MHz), and high resolution medical imaging linear array transducers will be designed and constructed for commercial sale under the direction and design of the NIH Resource Center for Ultrasonic Transducer Technology at the University of Southern California. A newly developed high performance ultrasonic scanner, the UltraVision, with the unique feature of having its high speed digital functions entirely within a large Field Programmable Gate Array chip, will be reprogrammed to accommodate the transducers. The UltraVision supports the very advanced features of elastography and optoacoustics and these modes will continue to be functional at these high frequencies. The system will initially be targeted to the morphological and functional imaging of cancer tumors in small animals. The animal studies will be under the direction of the Biomedical Engineering Department of the University of Texas at Austin where Associate Professor Stanislav Emelianov has already guided the UltraVision's design of optoacoustics and elastography. The initial aim is to provide researchers with an accessible tool for cancer research in small animals that will reduce the cost of the science and animal usage. Bringing the new modalities of functional imaging will also increase the specificity of cancer detection and staging. The long term goal is to develop an instrument that will be capable of supporting the emerging field of molecular specific imaging with antibody conjugated nano particles. This new field of optoacoustic imaging of nano particles is very compelling due to their sensitivity, the ability to synthesize their optical spectral absorption, and their non-toxicity. The transducers will be constructed on a 2-2 piezocomposite design known to the investigators Drs. Cannata and Shung and transferred to WinProbe where they will be set up for construction in volumes to be commercialized. The modification to the UltraVision will be largely performed in Very High Speed Integrated Circuit Hardware Description Language, which is not a simple task but it is the only method of accommodating the needs of performing the functions at the required speeds and costs. The acoustic lines will be formed by interlacing and cross-correlation to achieve a very high resolution performance. As the UltraVision Medical Ultrasound System is being commercialized for Breast cancer discrimination and the ageing of thrombi, its price savings from production volume will be shared into the research environment. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: This project develops high frequency transducers for a newly developed and uniquely designed medical ultrasonic scanner to image small anatomical structures and to display their functionality. Initially targeted for use in the research of cancer with small animals, its future is seen in the emerging field of functional imaging of the human sentinel lymph nodes with contrast of cancer attaching nano particles. The modifications to the system will be designed to preserve the scanners very low equipment cost.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase I
2010
HHS
NIH
Integrated Multifunctional Imaging of Deep Vein Thrombosis
Amount: $1,049,372
DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Deep venous thrombosis (DVT), and its sequelae, pulmonary embolism (PE), is a significant clinical problem, representing the leading cause of preventable in-hospital mortality in the USA and other developed coun tries. Indeed, anywhere from 60,000 to 200,000 people are dying each year in the United States because of DVT related pulmonary embolism. Therefore, reliable detection and diagnosis of DVT is of paramount importance. Once detected, acute clots must be diff erentiated from chronic DVT for appropriate treatment. However, there are no reliable, clinically available methods to stage DVT. Even the gold standard diagnostic technique, duplex venous ultrasound, can only detect but not age these clots. Therefore once a DVT is detected, highly potent, low-molecular weight heparin anticoagulation therapy, with its associated morbidity and mortality, is often given to over compensate for a PE risk from what might only be a chronic thrombus. Over time, as a clot ages and matures, DVT consistently hardens. Previous studies demonstrated that elastography a technique to image elastic properties of tissue can be used to reliably differentiate the chronic and acute DVT. In addition to elasticity contrast, optical absorption of DVT changes with blood clot maturation the acute clots are associated with high concentration of red blood cells, and chronic composed of tangled mesh of platelets, fibrin, and degenerating leukocytes. Consequently, the photoacoustic imaging an ultrasound- based imaging of optical absorption can be used to further characterize blood clots thus assisting the classification of detected DVT. Therefore, we propose to develop an integrated multifunctional imaging system to simultaneously detect and differentiate DVT based on grayscale and Doppler/color flow ultrasound imaging, photoacoustic imaging and elastography. The combined imaging will enhance DVT detection, diagnosis and staging without significant modification in current clinical protocol of ultrasound exa mination of DVT. The main objective of this fast-track SBIR program is to develop and test the integrated ultrasound, photoacoustic and elasticity imaging system to detect and age DVT. To achieve our objective, we will design and build an ultrasound imagin g system capable of simultaneous, real-time ultrasound, photoacoustic and strain imaging of blood clots in deep vein, and subsequent visualization of DVT elasticity. We will then test the developed system using tissue-mimicking models of DVT followed by cl inical studies of patients with known acute and chronic blood clots. Based on the results of these studies, it is the long-range goal of the overall program to develop, thoroughly test and commercialize a real-time ultrasound-based imaging system for DVT d etection, diagnosis and aging. The central theme of this project is to design, develop and commercialize a real-time integrated multimodal ultrasound-based imaging system to detect and age deep vein thrombosis. Our research program is focused on developmen t of an advanced imaging tool that takes full advantage of the many synergistic features of three complementary imaging modalities ultrasound, photoacoustics, and elastography. Integrated ultrasound, photoacoustic and elasticity imaging is a novel techno logy capable of accurate visualization of both structural and functional properties of tissue and it may be useful far beyond DVT detection and diagnosis. The applications of multimodal imaging may be extended into cancer research, diagnostic imaging and t herapy monitoring, cellular imaging, small animal imaging, microsurgery, etc. The current study, however, is a part of a focused program to develop and commercialize much needed yet unavailable clinical tool for DVT detection, diagnosis and characterizatio n.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase II
2008
HHS
NIH
Integrated Multifunctional Imaging of Deep Vein Thrombosis
Amount: $149,920
DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Deep venous thrombosis (DVT), and its sequelae, pulmonary embolism (PE), is a significant clinical problem, representing the leading cause of preventable in-hospital mortality in the USA and other developed coun tries. Indeed, anywhere from 60,000 to 200,000 people are dying each year in the United States because of DVT related pulmonary embolism. Therefore, reliable detection and diagnosis of DVT is of paramount importance. Once detected, acute clots must be diff erentiated from chronic DVT for appropriate treatment. However, there are no reliable, clinically available methods to stage DVT. Even the gold standard diagnostic technique, duplex venous ultrasound, can only detect but not age these clots. Therefore once a DVT is detected, highly potent, low-molecular weight heparin anticoagulation therapy, with its associated morbidity and mortality, is often given to over compensate for a PE risk from what might only be a chronic thrombus. Over time, as a clot ages and matures, DVT consistently hardens. Previous studies demonstrated that elastography a technique to image elastic properties of tissue can be used to reliably differentiate the chronic and acute DVT. In addition to elasticity contrast, optical absorption of DVT changes with blood clot maturation the acute clots are associated with high concentration of red blood cells, and chronic composed of tangled mesh of platelets, fibrin, and degenerating leukocytes. Consequently, the photoacoustic imaging an ultrasound- based imaging of optical absorption can be used to further characterize blood clots thus assisting the classification of detected DVT. Therefore, we propose to develop an integrated multifunctional imaging system to simultaneously detect and differentiate DVT based on grayscale and Doppler/color flow ultrasound imaging, photoacoustic imaging and elastography. The combined imaging will enhance DVT detection, diagnosis and staging without significant modification in current clinical protocol of ultrasound exa mination of DVT. The main objective of this fast-track SBIR program is to develop and test the integrated ultrasound, photoacoustic and elasticity imaging system to detect and age DVT. To achieve our objective, we will design and build an ultrasound imagin g system capable of simultaneous, real-time ultrasound, photoacoustic and strain imaging of blood clots in deep vein, and subsequent visualization of DVT elasticity. We will then test the developed system using tissue-mimicking models of DVT followed by cl inical studies of patients with known acute and chronic blood clots. Based on the results of these studies, it is the long-range goal of the overall program to develop, thoroughly test and commercialize a real-time ultrasound-based imaging system for DVT d etection, diagnosis and aging. The central theme of this project is to design, develop and commercialize a real-time integrated multimodal ultrasound-based imaging system to detect and age deep vein thrombosis. Our research program is focused on developmen t of an advanced imaging tool that takes full advantage of the many synergistic features of three complementary imaging modalities ultrasound, photoacoustics, and elastography. Integrated ultrasound, photoacoustic and elasticity imaging is a novel techno logy capable of accurate visualization of both structural and functional properties of tissue and it may be useful far beyond DVT detection and diagnosis. The applications of multimodal imaging may be extended into cancer research, diagnostic imaging and t herapy monitoring, cellular imaging, small animal imaging, microsurgery, etc. The current study, however, is a part of a focused program to develop and commercialize much needed yet unavailable clinical tool for DVT detection, diagnosis and characterizatio n.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase I
2008
HHS
NIH
OptoAcoustic and Ultrasonic Imaging of Angiogenesis
Amount: $1,346,820
DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This proposal for "Optoacoustic and Ultrasonic Imaging of Angiogenesis" combines optoacoustics and ultrasound in a single instrument for the first time. A I 2MHz phased array ultrasound probe equipped with fiber optics for delivery of laser illuminations will operate in the backwards mode. In this method the ultrasonic image and the optoacoustic image will be spatially overlaid and then fused in some presentations. The ultrasonic images will include B-Mode, color Flow Doppler, power Doppler and Spectral Doppler. A stacked transducer will double the acoustic spectral capabilities to 24 MHz on reception to attain visualization of very small vessels in the neovascuIarization. An OPO laser will provide a narrow wavelength from a spectrum of Infra Red wavelengths of light to photometrically select different compounds for light absorption, expansion and emission of ultrasound. Estimation of the oxy / deoxy hemoglobin in small vascular regions will be displayed as an image overlay. This unique instrument differentiates blood in optoacoustics, and tissue in ultrasound, allowing very high resolution of blood vessels, their flow (especially low flow without interference of wall motion) and their oxygen content. WinProbe's Scientific Research Platform will be optimized for this new combination of modalities and will produce fused images in real time. This proposal includes clinical studies to image and quantitatively access angiogenesis in mice under the effect of known anti-angiogenesis drugs. The goal is to commercialize an instrument for clinical research. The role of angiogenesis in cancer is well documented in the literature and this instrument can be expected to make a significant contribution to the science of cancer research. Future commercial products are expected to follow in endoscopic instruments to assist in the detection of cancer where optical assessments are limited to the surface and are contrast deprived.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase II
2005
HHS
NIH
A Shear Modulus Imager
Amount: $98,853
DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): WinProbe Corporation proposes research into implementing real-time elastography methods of ultrasonic imaging aimed at improving the diagnosis of breast cancer in an optimized Research Platform. Elastography has been the subject of intense research for at least twenty years yet only minimal commercial offerings have materialized. The practical issue of providing enough computational power intimately connected to the RF-data stream of the transducer, to produce the required complex real time calculations, has been challenging and not yet fully attained. WinProbe is proposing the introduction of a very powerful computational ultrasound system to this field and to convert the work of several eminent researchers of elastography to a practical imaging mode. Several of these researchers have also been enlisted in this project's team. It is thus proposed to advance the knowledge base through to a practical clinical method and instrument. Significant prior research exists that reports success in discriminating cancerous lesions from normal tissue by these methods in retrospective computations. One primary objective of this project is to investigate the use of Acoustic Radiation Force Pushes and their subsequently generated shear waves, in combination with real-time static elastography produced by manually applied pre-compression loads. The modulus and the rate of change of modulus with respect to strain will be quantitatively estimated, and the results mapped in real-time in color overlays of a live real-time B-Scan image. Demonstration of the methods instantiated into the hardware is presented as the milestones for Phase I. Testing, evaluation, optimizing and in vivo studies are proposed for Phase II. The following are tasks to be performed in Phase I: Transducer stress measurement by incorporation of load cells into a transducer and the associated software program for operator feedback and automatic triggers for data acquisition, Algorithm instantiation for real-time static elastography, Algorithm instantiation for Acoustic Radiation Force Push with modeling and verification, Algorithm instantiation for estimation of shear displacement at the focal point of the ARF-Push, Algorithm investigation for modulus estimation by tracking shear wave propagation, Design and construction of phantoms mimicking differing moduli of cancer lesions and normal tissue for the evaluation of the algorithms above.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase I
2005
HHS
NIH
OptoAcoustic and Ultrasonic Imaging of Angiogenesis
Amount: $97,158
DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This proposal for "Optoacoustic and Ultrasonic Imaging of Angiogenesis" combines optoacoustics and ultrasound in a single instrument for the first time. A I 2MHz phased array ultrasound probe equipped with fiber opt
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase I
2004
HHS
NIH
Advanced Ultrasonic Medical Imaging Transducers
Amount: $99,739
DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Phase I will demonstrate the feasibility of fabricating medical ultrasonic transducers from a molded composite material of PZT pillars embedded in a polymer. The material has superior properties to the current material made by "dice and fill". The proposed techniques would lead to reductions in costs and production times of array transducers. The methods proposed are applicable to single elements and arrays. The production of a commercially useful 1.75D phased array with 320 elements is proposed as a milestone for Phase I. The team's background and tooling will allow development of PZT powder doping, sintering and densification, micro molding of shapes, modeling of piezo characteristics in FEA, beam modeling, measurement and image quality analysis. Precisely molded composite materials provide the opportunity to economically construct stacks in array transducers. The team will design, build and extensively test stacks of array sections. The stacks are anticipated to be four differing height layers tuned to create an extremely wide bandwidth device. Transducers for a specific application could be designed and manufactured from a list of prefabricated materials that the team will characterize. A collection of modeling programs would be integrated with the materials to allow researchers access to low cost high performance transducers with rapid delivery.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase I
2003
HHS
NIH
ADVACED CROSS-CORRELATOR
Amount: $127,797
Development of a general purpose ultrasound cross-correlator module that is proposed for a) blood flow estimation in one, two and three dimensions b) blood flow estimation in an overlapped mode for use in high frequency small vessels c) coded excitation deconvolution d) A-Mode tissue characteristic correlation quantification The module would be capable of accepting Digitized RF data at rates up to 4o million 12 bit samples per second from a beamformer and returning the Sum of the Products (SOP) of multiple selectable ranges of up to 48 samples with a theoretical accuracy of 1/128th of a sample in the range dimension and a dynamic range of 36 bits in the intensity dimension at the rate of the input data. Multiple results based upon the SOP would also be output. The chosen algorithms would be loaded through a Firewire interface to a personal computer (PC) in a sub second rates. The correlator modules would output its results again through the Firewire interface into the PC for further image optimization and viewing. Initially the module would be tested with the company's Beamformer but efforts would be made to offer a universal interface so researchers could utilize the computing power of the correlator on other instruments. It is also intended to make available the parameters of the algorithms for researchers to use this tool for further developments. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS: This proposed tool would be applicable in the research then clinical evaluation of true three-dimensional real time blood flow in the major vessels of the body down to the capillary vessels and in tissue flow as in angiogenesis. The correlator potentially will be used in improving he dynamic range, and quality of ultrasonic imaging. A possible application to be investigated is the correlators potential for recognizing tissue characteristics in real time.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase I
2002
HHS
NIH