Aerospace Technology Detects Heart Disease and Strokes

New software is helping doctors diagnose and monitor treatments for hardening of the arteries in its early stages, before it causes heart attacks and strokes.

Initially developed at the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA; Washington, DC, USA), the ArterioVision carotid intima media thickness (CIMT) procedure, developed at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL; Pasadena, CA, USA), uses ultrasound technology to measure the thickness of the first two layers of the carotid artery--the intima and the media--located in the neck, where blood-flow-blocking plaque first develops. During the test, a patient lies on an examination table while a technician uses an ultrasound machine to capture specific images of the carotid artery wall while following a patented protocol.

Using the ArterioVision software, the physician generates a CIMT measurement and a report that identifies the patient's risk profile when compared to people of the same gender and age. The Arteriovision software system was patented by Medical Technologies International (MTI; Palm Desert, CA, USA), and has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

"This is such a precise method of examining the carotid artery. It can distinguish between 256 shades of gray at a subpixel level,” said Robert Selzer, chief engineer of MTI. "You need that kind of detail to help catch heart disease as early as you can, often before there are any outward symptoms.”

JPL's Image Processing Laboratory was created in 1966 to receive and make sense of spacecraft imagery. In the lab, the NASA-invented video imaging communication and retrieval software has been used to process pictures from numerous space missions, including the Voyagers and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Periodic upgrades of the imaging software have enabled greater accuracy and improved knowledge of our solar system, and have laid the groundwork for understanding images of all kinds.


Related Links:
U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Medical Technologies International