FDA clears EchoPixel's True 3D

EchoPixel has received FDA clearance of its True3D Viewer, a technology that creates holography displays—or True 3D­—from CT and MRI data.

True 3D takes this data and processes it so that it can be interacted with in an open 3D space. The technology allows users to grasp, manipulate and interact with holographic volumes that appear to float in space via the use of a special stylus.

"We're taking virtual reality technology, the kind that's previously been restricted to entertainment, and applying it to medicine," said Sergio Aguirre, founder and CTO of EchoPixel. "This gives doctors a fully immersive, accurate representation of patient anatomy. The results we're seeing, from trials with real patient data, have confirmed the urgent need for this kind of imaging in medicine."

True 3D has been used at a number of clinical sites. Frandics Chan, MD, an associate professor of radiology at Stanford, has used the technology for clinical surgical planning trials for children with pulmonary atresia (PA) with major aortopulmonary collateral arteries. Judith Yee, MD, a radiologist at the University of California, San Francisco, has been using it in clinical trials for virtual colonoscopy.

According to the company, the True3D Viewer was approved as a tool for diagnosis, as well as surgical planning.