Medical Imaging Patents Approved for RMD

Dynasil Corp., a manufacturer of specialized sensors, precision instruments and optical products for the medical, industrial and homeland security and defense markets, announced that its subsidiary, Radiation Monitoring Devices Inc. was granted 11 individual patents by the United States Patent and Trademark Office during 2010 relating to medical imaging applications and new scintillation materials for improved nuclear material detection.

The patents cover technology that can help protect the public against the risk of nuclear terrorism by providing greater sensitivity in security scanning systems. The same technology can also help doctors improve patient outcomes by more accurately locating cancer cells for targeted therapy through higher resolution medical imaging, with lower radiation doses.

“These patents further enhance Dynasil’s position in the rapidly growing security scanning and medical imaging marketplaces,” said Craig T. Dunham, CEO of Dynasil. “They reflect the depth of knowledge and experience of our people and their commitment to deliver important solutions to our country and to create substantial and lasting value for our customers and shareholders.”

Both the security and imaging segments are expected to have high growth potential. According to the Civitas Group, the radiation and radiological security industry has a market size of about $300 million per year. The global PET and SPECT medical imaging market is expected to grow from an estimated $6.5 billion in 2010 to $10.3 billion in 2015, according to a recent report published by the firm MarketsandMarkets.

Nine of these new patents primarily relate to scintillator materials (US patent numbers 7,655,919; 7,696,482; 7,700,920; 7,723,687; 7,755,054; 7,759,645; 7,772,558; 7,847,262 and 7,854,961), which are at the heart of instruments and systems used to sense radiation, determine its energy, identify its source and enable the detection, measurement and imaging of radiation in medical, security and industrial settings.

The other two granted patents (US patent numbers 7,828,926 and 7,692,156) are for new scintillator manufacturing methods to optimize their performance and costs. Importantly, these novel technologies have the potential for widespread use in homeland security, medical and commercial applications.

For more information, visit: www.dynasilcorp.com