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NZ Technologies announces third peer-reviewed paper on TIPSO touchless image navigation; builds evidence for a technology platform designed for the OR of the future
Vancouver, Canada — June 4, 2019 — NZ Technologies Inc. (NZTech) is pleased to announce the publication of the third clinical review this year of its TIPSO™ technology. The paper highlights TIPSO’s ability to provide touchless control to physicians to access and manipulate radiology images in real time during image-guided medical procedures. This capability is enabled by a unique bedside interface designed for touchless interaction with patient images, obviating the need to delegate the task to an assistant, or unscrub and use an imaging workstation outside the sterile space. Entitled “Early clinical experience with a touchless image navigation interface for the endovascular suite” and published in the journal Minimally Invasive Therapy & Allied Technologies, the paper fully confirms “the utility of touchless image navigation in the sterile field in facilitating decision-making and resource allocation during endovascular procedures.”
This latest paper joins two other recent peer-reviewed articles — “Experimental Assessment of a Novel Touchless Interface for Intraprocedural Imaging Review” (Cardiovascular Interventional Radiology May 2019) and “Novel Wireless Technology Platform for Bedside Image Navigation in the Endovascular Suite: Initial Clinical Experience in a Case Series” (Vascular Disease Management February 2019) — that present the results of extensive evaluation of the technology in a range of cases. Collectively, the three reports found that the TIPSO technology contributes by improving workflow in a number of different medical procedures by minimizing the episodes of scrubbing-out for image review outside the angio suite, thereby reducing overall procedural time. The articles also reported a reduced use of contrast agent, lowered radiation exposure, and increased procedural precision — all advantages that support better patient outcomes.
Dr. Behrang Homayoon, Head of Interventional Radiology, Medical Imaging, at Surrey Memorial Hospital (Fraser Health Authority) in Surrey, BC, Canada, and lead author of the most recent paper, commented: “Our study shows that TIPSO significantly improves physician interaction with and access to medical images, providing an impressive enhancement to procedures conducted in the endovascular suite. With safety and efficiency in mind, the use of TIPSO contributes to the adoption of best practices, and improves the quality of patient care and outcomes.”
Nima Ziraknejad Ph.D., P.Eng., founder and CEO of NZ Technologies Inc., added: “Developed with physicians as a ‘needs-based’ technological innovation, these papers show that our TIPSO system provides a unique technology platform that seamlessly integrates with other technologies to improve workflow in operating rooms and endovascular suites. We are honoured to have worked with and gained the support of physician leaders from leading institutions in both Canada and the United States.”
With an increasing amount of equipment and tools in the operating room that require precision control, the future operating room (OR) warrants a centralized technology platform that enables on-demand interaction and automation, all while minimizing the clinician’s burden and effort. This would include such routine tasks as raising or lowering the operating bed height, adjusting room light levels, controlling robotics, and managing gas levels. According to Dr. Ziraknejad, “We at NZ Technologies are driven by our vision to revolutionize the way in which clinicians interact with their operative environments. TIPSO is just the beginning of our development of technologies for the OR of tomorrow, all aimed at delivering automated, touchless control as the standard of care.”
Dr. David Liu, Clinical Professor in the Department of Radiology at the University of British Columbia and the Vancouver General Hospital (Vancouver Coastal Health), was senior author of two of the recent TIPSO studies. He explains, “The modern operating theater has many distractions arising from simultaneous data, imaging and clinical feeds that can affect the concentration of the surgeon or operator, especially while performing technically or mentally demanding maneuvers. TIPSO helps usher in a new era in which, as operators, we are taking back our mental bandwidth and allowing clinicians to focus on the important work at hand: saving lives and improving the health of patients.”
The Minimally Invasive Therapy & Allied Technologies paper is available here: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13645706.2019.1612440
The previous two papers are available here:
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00270-019-02207-8; and here:
About TIPSO™
TIPSO™ is a medical innovation that revolutionizes the way in which physicians interact with the operative environment by enabling touchless access and navigation of patient imaging records without leaving the sterile workspace. TIPSO offers two unique, wireless devices (TIPSO™ Beam and TIPSO AirPadÒ) that capture the physician's hand motions and translate them as mouse/keyboard commands used to control radiological images on the workstation. Using either device puts the physician in full control of image review (via PACS, DSA, CT or other intraprocedural modalities), allowing retrieval of any available imaging record. Ultimately, using the TIPSO system could help reduce procedural time and radiation exposure, limit traffic in the angio suite, improve workflow, and alleviate the physician’s cognitive load.
About NZ Technologies Inc.
NZ Technologies Inc. (www.nztech.com) is a technology innovation and electro-mechanical device production firm whose research and development has been generously supported by the Government of Canada and particularly its NRC IRAP program since the company’s founding. Focused on innovating modern Human Machine Interfaces (HMI), its systems engineering specialties cover 3D machine vision and sensing, artificial intelligence (AI), embedded electronics design and assembly, robotics control and manufacturing, and machine learning algorithms. NZTech brings value to the clinical sector through the development of non-intrusive 3D machine vision technologies. TIPSO is a specialized medical technology that has evolved from the technical expertise and unique industrial experience of its engineering team through contributions from physicians as co-inventors who practice in the field of Interventional Radiology.
