Artificial intelligence is a hot topic at this week’s Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) meeting in Chicago. Sessions on the topic were drawing big crowds, and many vendors were using the show’s huge attendance to draw attention to new offerings.
Hugh Harvey, a consultant radiologist for Guy’s and St. Thomas NHS Foundation Trust in the U.K., posted online a handy A-Z Guide to radiology AI companies showcasing at RSNA 2017.
Among the noteworthy ones, Arterys, a cloud-based medical imaging software provider, is showcasing its platform, which recently got 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The clearance allows the Arterys product to be used in clinical settings for the quantification of cardiac flow, which includes 4D flow and 2D Phase Contrast workflows, and cardiac function measurements. Arterys also is present new data on cardiac clinical applications using the Arterys 4D Flow software during the RSNA poster sessions.
Besides demonstrating its software platform at RSNA, San Francisco-based Arterys also recently announced the close of its $30 million Series B financing round. The investment was led by Temasek, with strategic investors Northwell Health Ventures, NewYork-Presbyterian, Varian Medical Systems and GE Ventures, and joined by Fosun, DNA Capital, Emergent Medical Partners, and ORI Capital. Founded in 2011, Arterys plans to use the funding to expand its web-based artificial intelligence platform and launch products in oncology and neurology, and to accelerate the commercialization of its cardiac offering.
Also at the RSNA show, EnvoyAI announced the launch of the EnvoyAI Exchange, a platform for the distribution of artificial intelligence content.
Cambridge, Mass.-based EnvoyAI, which was formerly known as McCoy Medical Technologies, said the exchange launches with 14 signed distribution deals with partner companies, collectively contributing 35 total algorithms. There are three FDA-cleared algorithms available for purchase immediately, as well as many more available in the EU and others expecting 510(k) clearances over the next six to 12 months. EnvoyAI offers a catalog of AI content that hospitals can integrate into their workflow. Once a hospital has the platform installed, any new algorithm on the platform can be turned on and integrated into the clinical workflow with the push of a button, the company said.
“EnvoyAI solves a distribution problem in the medical imaging AI space. We help algorithm developers scale up from the validation stage to be able to reach a very large customer base with their products," said Misha Herscu, CEO of EnvoyAI, in a prepared statement. "Our platform enables physicians to interact with AI in their native workflow, keeping doctors in control and empowering them to take AI input into account, but on their own terms.
Eliot Siegel, M.D., professor and vice chair for research informatics at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, is one of EnvoyAI’s advisory board members. “There has been a profound mismatch between the many thousands of diverse and promising algorithms presented at research meetings and the tiny number that are available at my workstation,” he said in a statement. “We’ve always had brilliant minds creating algorithms that can be applied to images. What we’ve lacked is the communication mechanism that delivers their algorithms to a broad audience allowing clinicians to try out algorithms, while maintaining control over the patient interaction and report.”
