Aclarion, a company using remote MRIs to assess back pain, expands in partnership with RadNet
Aclarion, a company that uses MRIs to assess back pain, is expanding in partnership with imaging center operator RadNet Inc., the two announced Thursday.
The Broomfield, Colorado, firm plans to bolster access to its Nociscan product across key markets in New York and New Jersey. This expansion builds on previously launched partnerships in the two states with RadNet, Aclarion noted. It also is driven by both the increased availability of MR spectroscopy, along with the enhanced remote-scan capabilities at RadNet, which will meet the “growing market demand” for its product.
“Expanding scanner access is a key element of our strategy to drive Nociscan to standard of care for patients with chronic low back pain,” Aclarion CEO Brent Ness, MBA, said in a statement March 6. “The additional sites RadNet is onboarding will help us enable more convenient access to grow scan volume in response to physician demand.”
Nociscan is a software-as-a-service platform that leverages MRI to help providers pinpoint painful discs in the lumbar spine. Using a cloud-based connection, it receives magnetic resonance spectroscopy data from an MRI scanner. Nociscan then uses “proprietary signal processing techniques” to extract and quantify chemical biomarkers associated with disc pain. This information is processed by proprietary algorithms, providing further insight into the issue.
“When used with other diagnostic tools, Nociscan provides critical insights into the location of a patient’s low back pain, giving physicians clarity to optimize treatment strategies,” Aclarion noted.
The partnership is with two RadNet affiliates: Lenox Hill Radiology and the New Jersey Imaging Network. LHR operates a total of 79 imaging centers throughout New York State and was acquired by RadNet in 2013. Its Park Avenue site initially adopted Nociscan “to provide access to leading spine physicians,” Aclarion said. Meanwhile, New Jersey Imaging is one of the state’s largest imaging providers with 33 locations, formed in 2012 through a partnership with Barnabas Health. Its NJIN-Union outpost was the first to adopt Nociscan, seeking to support local physicians and out-of-market referrals.
Aclarion now has over a dozen locations in the U.S. including two in partnership with New Jersey Imaging (with a second added in Woodbridge Township, N.J.) and three more through Lenox Hill Radiology (including additions in Washington Heights and Laurelton). Like RadNet, the company is publicly traded, with its stock down some 80% Thursday amid the expansion announcement.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.