BROSSARD, QUEBEC, CANADA--(Marketwire - May 31, 2010) - DIAGNOS inc. ("DIAGNOS" or "the Corporation") (TSX VENTURE:ADK), a leader in the use of artificial intelligence and advanced knowledge-extraction techniques, announces today that it is proceeding with its first CARA deployment in Bancroft Ontario, following a successful clinical test at North Hastings Family Health Team in that community.
"CARA has provided the North Hastings Family Health Team with the missing tool that will allow us to ensure the proper retinopathy triage of our diabetic patients, with a data capture and follow up mechanism that will guarantee the timely and proper care for our diabetic community. It has added an accurate, efficient and cost effective method to our process that I believe will be adopted by Family Health Teams throughout the Ontario health care system" said Dr Peter McEnery, Lead physician, North Hastings Family Health Team.
DIAGNOS will receive $15 per patient that includes image processing, enhancement, grading, annotation, web access by designated medical specialists. "Canada alone has 1.6 million people afflicted with diabetes, that could potentially become blind from diabetic retinopathy and this number continues to grow. Worldwide it is estimated that, by 2025, there will be 300,000,000 million diabetics. The World Health Organization has said that it is the worst epidemic the world has ever experienced", said Yvan Michon, DIAGNOS' Major Initiatives Relationship Partner.
"We are very pleased with this deployment as it demonstrates the strength and utility of our Computer Assisted Retinal Analysis software and our image grading service. Prior to this deployment the visiting ophthalmologist had to examine all patients regardless of the presence or absence of retinopathy, wasting much time on patients with no retinal disease. Our service allows the specialist to see the patient's graded retinal photographs prior to his visit, and optimize his schedule to focus on the patients who require his attention making him more efficient. Additionally, the rapid turnaround time of the image grading allows both the visiting specialist and the general practitioner to quickly tailor their management of the patient" said Peter Nowacki, DIAGNOS' Vice-President - Healthcare.
About North Hastings Family Health Team
With a mission of providing all residents of North Hastings with access to exceptional primary healthcare services, the North Hastings Family Health Team strives to improve the health and well-being of area residents through the continuous pursuit of accessible, exceptional, integrated and sustainable healthcare resources, programs, and services delivered by a collaborative team. Located adjacent to the North Hastings Hospital with a 24 hour emergency room, the state of the art facility and newly renovated clinic provides services to the community through Primary Care Providers, and visiting Specialists. The clinic remains central and accessible to the residents of all seven municipalities which actively support it.
About North Hastings CARA Clinical Test
The North Hastings Family Health Team conducted a clinical test in collaboration with DIAGNOS inc. in April 2010 under the supervision of the local general practitioner, visiting ophthalmologist, and supervising retinologist. Non-mydriatic retinal images of 53 diabetes patients were captured on 2 clinic days. The images were enhanced with CARA algorithms, graded by a certified retinal image grader, and made available via a secure web portal to the supervising physicians. Though no patients reported symptoms, the results indicate that 6% had diabetic retinopathy lesions requiring referral to an ophthalmologist, 28% had very early stage retinopathy that required monitoring, and 66% had no retinopathy.
About CARA
CARA is a tele-ophthalmology platform that integrates with existing equipment (hardware and software) and processes at the point of service (POS) and comprises: image upload, automated pre-screening, grading by a specialist and referral to a specialist. CARA's image enhancement algorithms make standard retinal images sharper, clearer, and easier to read. It is an automated platform accessible securely over the internet, and is compatible with all recognized image formats and brands of fundus cameras. CARA is a cost-effective tool for processing large numbers of images, in real-time and has been issued a licence by Health Canada for commercialization in Canada.
About DIAGNOS
Founded in 1998, DIAGNOS is a publicly traded Canadian corporation with a mission to commercialize technologies combining contextual imaging and traditional data mining thereby improving decision making processes. DIAGNOS offers products, services, and solutions to clients in a variety of fields including natural resources, healthcare, and entertainment.
For further information, please visit our website at [ www.diagnos.com ] or the SEDAR website at [ www.sedar.com ].
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