iMD Innovation Labs
Roughly 40 million mammograms are taken each year in North America. Radiologists use them to look for tumors. Yet, the images received often have missing breast tissue or other deficits because the breast was not properly positioned in the mammogram. A recent study conducted by iMD Research revealed 44% of mammograms had invalid positioning.
iMD Research is supporting the development of an AI classifier that can identify invalid breast positioning in real time and allow proper exams to be taken every time.
TeamMammography AI
About 1% of adults have schizophrenia, most of whom will have auditory hallucinations. These hallucinations cause distress and are debilitating. New augmented reality approaches allow patients to emulate the voices they hear and create an image of the entity speaking. Along with the guidance of a licensed therapist, this allows patients to define and begin to control the voices they hear.
iMD Research along with MEDTEQ, NSERC and research teams at McGill Faculty of Engineering and the Douglas Mental Health Institute is supporting the development of an augmented reality platform that helps patients with auditory hallucinations.
TeamVR in Psychiatry
The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic placed historical levels of operational stress on hospitals, nursing homes and public health entities. People who test positive for the virus are sent home and asked to self-confine. Public health agents contact them on a daily basis to get (subjective) information on their health. A remote vital sign monitor detects temperature, SPO2, Heart Rate, Respiratory Rate and Blood Pressure. It helps detect sudden increases in temperature and respiratory distress in older patients living in nursing homes or patients who test positive and self-confine.
iMD Research is supporting the development of a small wireless ambulatory vital sign monitor in partnership with the Faculty of Engineering of McGill University, Faculty of Engineering of Université Laval, and with the funding support of MITACS and NSERC.
TeamVital Sign Monitoring
Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) is a debilitating condition that affects approximately 13% of males and 6% of females in North America and 40% of persons with obesity. While the gold standard treatment is the CPAP, these devices have notoriously poor compliance rates. Alternate treatments include lower bulk intraoral devices called mandibular advancement devices (MADs) that move the lower jaw forward and facilitate breathing. Studies show that MADs are non-inferior to CPAPs for mild-to moderate OSA. Yet, no device exists that can track sleep parameters and inform patients and doctors about treatment efficacy. iMD Research in partnership with JACOBB, the McGill Faculty of Engineering and supported by MEDTEQ, NSERC and the MEI is developing the first intelligent MAD that uses sensors to monitor sleep parameters and AI to detect various conditions.
Team