New imaging software that will allow physicians to more accurately diagnose and treat heart failure patients has been licensed by Emory University to Syntermed, an Atlanta-based nuclear medicine imaging and informatics software company. The software uses multiharmonic phase analysis (MHPA), a technology developed by Emory researchers Ernest Garcia, PhD, and Jing Chen, PhD. MHPA is designed to quickly and reliably determine which heart failure patients will benefit from cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT).   

     CRT is used to improve heart function by restoring the correct mechanical sequence of heart contractions in patients with an irregular heartbeat, called left ventricular dyssynchrony. Syntermed will market the MHPA-based software as SyncTool©, which recently received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval. The company cites advantages over current imaging technology including better image clarity, 3-D perfusion images, an automated process that eliminates variations in interpretation, and more rapid and objective physician assessment of the condition. SyncTool will be added as a new module in the Emory Cardiac Toolbox©, a huge set of software tools for evaluating cardiac images developed by Garcia and colleagues at over the past 20 years. The Toolbox is used in almost half of the cardiac laboratories in the U.S. The original version was the founding technology of Syntermed, established in 1999 as an Emory spin-off. Go to: EurekAlert