Ventricular Dyssynchrony Imaging
Ventricular Dyssynchrony Imaging
Project History
In 2013 a group from the Institute of Scientific Instruments, the Czech Academy of Sciences, Brno, led by Pavel Jurak, conducted the first ultra-high-frequency ECG experiments with scientists led by Pavel Leinveber from St. Anne’s University Hospital Brno. The entire 2kHz ECG bandwidth was analyzed during a study, and potentially clinically useful high-frequency ECG signals were observed in bands up to 1.5kHz. Software calculating high-fidelity signal envelopes began to be developed to enable further research of high-frequency ECG components.
Clinical studies monitoring asynchrony, shape, and amplitudes between individual leads were conducted. Signal processing algorithms were further fine-tuned over the years. Substantial improvement was made with the implementation of frequency window averaging, introduced in 2019, while cooperation expanded to the University Hospital Kralovske Vinohrady, Prague team led by Karol Curila. That led to the award of grant financing intending to design a VDI Monitor (hardware & software), which would detect clear high-frequency ECG signals capable of further analysis (time delays, high-frequency patterns).
The first version of the UHF-ECG monitor was finished in 2019. It was subsequently used in several clinical studies led by founding institutions. These studies were successfully published and received.
Furthermore, the commercial version of the UHF-ECG system development began in 2021. Nilus Medical LLC designed a VDIAQ ECG signal amplifier that was tested for mechanical, electrical, and EMC safety in 2022. The system is being used under IRB approval in 20 research centers in Great Britain, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Spain, Italy, South Africa, Bulgary, and Hungary. VDI Vision software was designed, analyzed, and tested on a database of more than 5,000 cases recorded over the years.
Until 2021 the project was solely funded by several grant projects.
Spin-off
Under the leadership of Miroslav Navratil, who was appointed CEO of the company, in April 2022, VDI Technologies was founded by a group of individual founders and original research institutions. Convertible loan financing was provided by the Brno-based company - Cardion, who later became the lead investor during the first financing round.