SuperSonic Imagine to Highlight Advancement in Microvascular Imaging at Annual Radiology Meeting

AIX-EN-PROVENCE, FRANCE--(Marketwired - Nov 23, 2015) -  SuperSonic Imagine (EURONEXT PARIS: SSI) (FR0010526814), the highly innovative ultrasound company, announced today that its new microvascular imaging technology will be showcased at the 101st Scientific Assembly & Annual Meeting of the Radiological Society of North America. The meeting is taking place November 29th - December 4th in Chicago, IL and hosts more than 50,000 attendees from around the world.

SuperSonic Imagine will demonstrate its new solution for microvascular visualization -- AngioPLUS* -- PLanewave UltraSensitive imaging. AngioPLUS provides a new level of microvascular imaging through significantly improved color sensitivity and spatial resolution while maintaining exceptional 2D imaging. It increases the detail of real-time flow information available during ultrasound diagnostic exams. This information is instrumental in helping the diagnosis of cancerous tissues in areas such as the breast, liver, lymph nodes and thyroid as well as musculoskeletal pathologies such as inflammation in tendons. AngioPLUS leverages SuperSonic Imagine's previous innovation, UltraFast™ Doppler, providing an advanced solution for vascular evaluation. 

Along with introducing AngioPLUS, the company will also be highlighting clinical data demonstrating the effectiveness of its ShearWave™ Elastography (SWE™) technology. SWE provides physicians a comprehensive, accurate and quantitative evaluation of tissue stiffness in real time via a color-coded map of elasticity in conjunction with a high quality two-dimensional ultrasound image of morphology. Tissue stiffness is an important criteria used by physicians to identify potentially diseased lesions. This can be used in a variety of clinical applications, most notably breast cancer patient management and liver disease assessment.

The benefits of using the ShearWave technology for the diagnosis of breast lesions have been demonstrated in more than 60 peer-reviewed publications, including a multinational study of over 1,600 patients. The results showed that ShearWave Elastography, combined with conventional ultrasound criteria, allowed superior accuracy in the diagnosis of breast lesions and significantly reduced the number of false positive cases. By improving the accuracy of breast ultrasound, SuperSonic Imagine's SWE technology helps to reduce the number of negative biopsies.

In addition to breast cancer management clinical studies, over 60 liver disease-focused publications have demonstrated the reliability and effectiveness of SWE to assess the severity of chronic liver disease. Liver biopsy has traditionally been considered the standard for assessing liver fibrosis severity but this invasive method has major drawbacks, including significant incidence of morbidity, procedure and hospitalization costs, and clinical shortcomings as fibrosis is underestimated in 10-30% of the cases^(1-2). In April 2015, results of a large scale (1340 patients) global multicenter retrospective study were presented at the EASL (European Association for the Study of the Liver) annual meeting and confirmed the accuracy of SWE as a non-invasive alternative to biopsy for staging liver fibrosis. Several etiologies of chronic liver diseases were evaluated including chronic hepatitis C, chronic hepatitis B, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and others. 

"We are pleased to be participating again this year in the Annual Meeting of the Radiological Society of North America. Our technology provides detailed, real-time information important to radiologists and can be used in a broad range of applications such as breast, liver, thyroid and musculoskeletal exams. SuperSonic Imagine is committed to bringing innovative solutions to physicians and technologists to help improve cancer detection and reduce invasive biopsies. We are looking forward to discussing the clinical benefits of our ShearWave technology for tissue stiffness evaluation as well as introducing AngioPLUS, our new solution for microvascular visualization," commented Jacques Souquet, Chief Innovation Officer of SuperSonic Imagine.

The Company will be exhibiting at booth #6339, North Hall, throughout the meeting.
Posters of clinical studies from the USA and Europe relating to SuperSonic Imagine's clinical innovations will also be presented.

* Clearance pending

⁽¹⁾ Sampling error and intraobserver variation in liver biopsy in patients with chronic HCV infection. Regev A, Berho M, Jeffers LJ, Milikowski C, Molina EG, Pyrsopoulos NT, Feng ZZ, Reddy KR, Schiff ER. Am J Gastroenterol. 2002 Oct;97(10):2614-8. Sources of variability in histological scoring of chronic viral hepatitis. Rousselet MC, Michalak S, Dupré F, Croué
⁽²⁾ A, Bedossa P, Saint-André JP, Calès P; Hepatitis Network 49. Hepatology. 2005 Feb;41(2):257-64.

SuperSonic Imagine

Founded in 2005 and based in Aix-en-Provence (France), SuperSonic Imagine is a company specializing in medical imaging. The company designs, develops and markets a revolutionary ultrasound system, Aixplorer®, with an UltraFast™ platform that can acquire images 200 times faster than conventional ultrasound systems. Aixplorer is the only system that can image two types of waves: ultrasound waves ensure excellent image quality and shear waves, which allow physicians to visualize and analyze the stiffness of tissue in a real-time, reliable, reproducible and non-invasive manner. This innovation, ShearWave™ Elastography, significantly improves the detection and characterization of numerous pathologies in several applications including breast, thyroid, liver and prostate. SuperSonic Imagine has been granted regulatory clearances for the commercialization of Aixplorer in the main global markets. Over the past years, SuperSonic Imagine enjoyed the backing of several prestigious investors, among which Auriga Partners, Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners, Bpifrance, Omnes Capital and NBGI.

For more information about SuperSonic Imagine, please go to www.supersonicimagine.com.