UHN Medical Imaging Tool Licensed to Vexim SA

UHN has signed a follow-on licensing agreement with Vexim SA, regarding a deformable template registration and segmentation technology developed by UHN's Joint Department of Medical Imaging. The agreement, licensed through the Technology Development and Commercialization Office at UHN, provides Vexim (a company based in Toulouse, France) with a robust software algorithm for measuring the efficacy of their SpineJack® implant procedure for repairing vertebral compression fractures. The SpineJack device is a vertebral body implant for the stabilization of vertebral fractures and for restoring height in a minimally invasive, image-guided way. The addition of the UHN software to quantify the effects of this technique provides an important advance in both the planning and the treatment aspects of the SpineJack procedure.

The software and algorithm, developed by Paul Dufort in UHN's Joint Department of Medical Imaging, allows for the recognition and segmentation of highly deformed objects from medical scans taken in a range of contexts. Changes in the object's shape can then be quantified via deformation fields linking multiple scans of the object over time. These are two high-impact and widely known problems in medical image computing which have previously defied general-purpose solutions. This software is a general algorithm that can be tailored to specific applications, with spine injury repair being the focus of the Vexim relationship. The software will continue to be improved and extended, with the next phase of work aimed at incorporating MRI scans to address growing concerns about radiation exposure from CT.