Image analysis software developer Perspectum Diagnostics highlighted two studies presented during the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) Liver Meeting held November 9-13.
The abstracts detailed the use of Perspectum's technology for improving upon MR cholangiopancreatography (MRCP). MRCP is a noninvasive technique used in the evaluation of biliary tree anatomy, but it is not quantitative and has high subjectivity in reading.
Perspectum's MRCP+, on the other hand, provides information that increases diagnostic confidence while minimizing the frequency of invasive procedures, according to the company. MRCP+ is designed to allow existing MRCP data to be enhanced and quantitatively characterized using advanced image processing techniques. The software enhances data from conventional MRCP without the need for a contrast agent.
In one study, researchers evaluated the potential clinical utility of the metrics produced by MRCP+ for discriminating biliary disease. Heavily T2-weighted MRCP images were acquired in a cohort of healthy subjects, as well as those with autoimmune hepatitis, hepatitis C, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, primary biliary cholangitis, and primary sclerosing cholangitis. The images were processed with MRCP+ to enhance and quantify the tubular biliary structures.
MRCP+ produced reference intervals of healthy common bile duct width that were comparable to those previously reported in the literature, and patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis had a significantly higher duct variability score than other cohorts. Demonstrating that a multiscale image analysis method both enhanced and quantified biliary tubular structures, the results show that MRCP+ provides measures that could objectively differentiate patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis.
In another study, matrix metalloproteinase 7 (MMP7) was researched as a novel biomarker in pediatric sclerosing cholangitis. MRCP+ was used to determine the percentage of biliary tree affected by strictures and dilatations.
This study showed, with good correlation to MRCP+, that MMP7 is a promising biomarker for the noninvasive diagnosis of primary sclerosing cholangitis in children.
MRCP+ is pending clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
