VIC Technology Venture Development Portfolio Company Receives Grant

CardioWise Inc. has received a $150,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to support the development and commercialization of a non-invasive analysis method for detection of heart disease.

CardioWise is a portfolio company of VIC Technology Venture Development, a privately held firm based at the Innovation Center in the Arkansas Research and Technology Park. The University of Arkansas Technology Development Foundation manages the park.

The NSF Phase I grant came through the Small Business Innovation Research Program, which allows federal agencies to stimulate technological innovation in the private sector by strengthening small businesses that meet federal research and development needs. The program also is intended to increase the commercial application of federally supported research results.

CardioWise has developed patent-pending, non-invasive Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging analysis software that produces a quantified three-dimensional image model of the human heart, called the Multiparametric Strain heart analysis.

Unlike many other diagnostic tests, MRI with the CardioWise analysis poses no risk to the patient, and subsequent tests can be accurately compared to previous tests to see how treatment is working. Ultimately, this diagnostic method may help doctors decide how soon or if a patient requires an intervention such as a drug, stent or surgery.

Each year, an estimated 1.5 million people in the United States suffer heart attacks and heart failure, the consequence of heart attacks or other heart disease, is the most rapidly increasing clinical manifestation of cardiac disease. The associated yearly cost of caring for heart patients has risen to more than $300 billion, according to the American Heart Association.