September 25, 2012 — Riverain Technologies, a company in proprietary image processing and machine learning technologies, announced that it has been issued broad patents from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for its technologies, opening the door for the company’s software to be used in wider healthcare applications. These new patents not only protect Riverain’s novel chest X-ray technology that suppresses bone and calls out suspicious tissue, but also hold promise for the company to bring its software to other applications including computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and ultrasound.
Riverain was issued U.S. Patent 8,204,292 for its methodology to selectively remove unwanted objects, or features, within images. The technology is used in the company’s ClearRead Bone Suppression software, which suppresses the ribs and clavicles in a chest X-ray image, resulting in the formation of a soft tissue image of the chest. The application provides radiologists with a clearer, unobstructed view of the chest to aid in early detection of lung disease, including lung cancer. Currently employed in chest X-ray, a range of possible applications exists within other imaging modalities including CT, MRI, positron emission tomography (PET), full field digital mammography (FFDM) and tomosynthesis.
In addition Riverain was issued U.S. Patent 8,160,335 for its proprietary computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) methodology on software- or hardware-derived images, such as dual-energy subtracted soft tissue images and/or bone-suppressed images. The technology is used in the company’s ClearRead +Detect software, an application that identifies and circles potentially cancerous lung nodules on a bone-suppressed chest X-ray image, and/or images captured by modalities such as dual-energy subtraction (DES). ClearRead +Detect has been clinically proven to improve the detection of 9mm to 30mm lung nodules and allow the detection of up to 1 in 2 previously missed lung nodules.
“These recently issued patents cover some of the methods and processes that give our market-leading software solutions a distinct advantage,” said Steve Worrell, Riverain chief technology officer. “Riverain now has an intellectual property portfolio of more than 15 issued or pending patents and welcomes inquiries regarding applications inside and outside the medical field.”
For more information: www.riveraintechnologies.com