Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques are used to perform diagnostic tests which provide detailed images of the structure and make-up of the human body through the distribution of its atoms. MRIs allow medical professionals to diagnose alterations in muscles and other tissues, detect cancer and study the brain. However, these images currently only boast a precision of around 65% when used to study nerve fibers, which means that they cannot be used to reach definitive diagnoses. To improve the precision of these assessments, the young electrical engineer Zoi Giavri has developed Brainance, a software program trained to process three types of MRI with 90% accuracy, an improvement which has earned her a spot as one of MIT Technology Review, Spanish edition's Innovators Under 35 Europe 2017 2017.
Brainance, which is property of the company Advantis Medical Imaging, of which Giavri is both cofounder and CEO, needs only seconds to reconstruct cerebral nerve fibers in 3D. This makes it faster than any other MRI technique, which on average needs at least 22 hours to complete the same task. Giavri's machine is also static, which allows medical professionals to use the device remotely and share results with other healthcare professionals in order to improve the accuracy of their diagnoses, another common obstacle posed by traditional MRI techniques. Giavri explains: "We have taken all of the technology which we have developed and placed it in the cloud," thereby providing access to doctors, wherever they are.
All of the advantages of this new product help to facilitate more accurate diagnoses for disorders like multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer's. Brainance's results have been compared with those of similar software products like Philips-FiberTrak, DSI Studio-Open Source and the NordicICE by Nordic Neurolab. This comparison demonstrates that the accuracy of Giavri's product stands head and shoulders above the rest.
Brainance was officially launched during the European Radiology Conference in Vienna (Austria) last March. Currently, 42 users are actively using the software, and have already processed more than 500 tests. The CEO de Advantis Medical Imaging highlights: "We have received positive feedback from the communities who use our software." And the executive director of Heyka Capital Markets Group and jury member of Innovators Under 35 Europe 2017, Anna Hejka, agrees. In her opinion, Brainance not only has great potential to save lives, but also to improve patients' daily quality of life. This expert describes this breakthrough as "very impressive."
By Carmen Barrios Pérez
Translation: Teresa Woods
