Radiologists are already accustomed to forgoing film in favor of digital imaging. The next big thing may be a shift away from image interpretation altogether into a brave new world in which doctors learn to analyze data maps.

Modalities including MR produce images from underlying data sets. A few companies like Acuitas Medical have developed data acquisition software to dig out this clinical gold mine and analyze it in different ways to spot disease and track treatments. The company's technique, called fine texture analysis, is used to create informative views of tissue and bone.

"An MRI has a range of pulse sequences to generate different kinds of images. Basically each sequence produces a different kind of data, which in the standard application produces an image. We have a different pulse sequence--a unique one that we use to acquire our own data, which we then analyze separately," explained John P. Heinrich, Ph.D., Chairman and CEO of Acuitas Medical Ltd., Swansea, Wales.

An example of the company's proprietary analytical techniques is analyzing MR data on trabecular bone makeup. The porous structures are comprised of a network of bone with marrow pockets in between.

"Our data looks like a spectrum and indicates the size and the spacing of the elements in the [porous] bone. A picture of osteoporotic bone shows that the elements typically have gotten much thinner. Space between bone structures has gotten larger and some are disconnected altogether," Heinrich said.

The company's software may spot the degenerative process earlier than conventional imaging methods. The logical extension of this capability is that in the future, MR might diagnose thinning bones in osteoporosis. Given today's concerns over radiation exposure from X-rays and CT scans, a broadening of applications for magnetic resonance imaging holds promise.

Acuitas plans to apply its software, which works with any make and model MR scanner, to diseases such as fibrosis of the liver and other organs, and interstitial lung disease. In addition to clinical applications, the research potential is great to use sensitive data analysis to track the efficacy of drugs as early as possible in trials or treatment.

"There is a whole set of new anti-fibrosis drugs under development. So we think that's an area where we can show clinical utility and demonstrate not only the ability to observe fibrosis before you can see it with conventional imaging but also to be able to track the course of therapy," Heinrich said. "The same story in interstitial lung disease where the gold standard is CT. The drawback there is that because the thorax and the lungs are so dense, in order to get good image quality you typically need relatively high doses [of radiation]. We think this is an area where we can not only demonstrate clinical utility but demonstrate an alternative that will completely eliminate the need for ionizing radiation, which we think will be a very significant advance.

Acuitas, through private and public funding is now conducting pre-clinical animal studies to validate its techniques and plans to head into human clinical studies soon. Additional applications might include cancer by spotting early angiogenesis (the development of a network of blood vessels that feed a tumor).

On the business side, company founders including Heinrich; Peter E. Taylor, executive vice president of business development; and Timothy W. James, Ph.D, executive vice president and chief technology officer, are veterans of the diagnostic imaging industry who view their work as aiding radiologists in particular.

"How do you present this data to a radiologist in a way that is readily interpretable and reasonably familiar? That is one of our most interesting challenges because no one has had very much success showing spectra [continuous data values] to a radiologist. We need to present a diagnostic index or a map that looks familiar. But there is no question in our mind that our customer is the diagnostic imaging industry and the radiologist in particular."

The company's competitive advantage lies in its use of smaller data sets that are quickly captured off the scanner, bringing the theoretical potential of this information into practical accessibility. Also, structural features as small as 100 microns (a factor of ten smaller than the resolution achievable in an image) can be visualized, Heinrich said. The company is now seeking strategic partners including MR makers to disseminate its software in modules.

"Our notion is that using the same underlying technology we will add a series of specific clinical applications packages. The measure of change may be different. The way the data is presented may be different. So for each specific clinical application you'll have a separate package on the [MR] scanner. And what we expect to do is to form a strategic alliance with one of the major [OEMs] and allow them to distribute the software rather than doing it ourselves."