HVA Platform
NHSi delivers HVA via a proprietary internet-based software platform – the HVA Platform.
HVA measures, refines and analyses raw data from traditional TCD from up to 23 vessel
segments to establish a hemodynamic pattern unique to each individual tested. It
combines three widely accepted physiological measures (see figure 1 below) per vessel
into an integrated neurovascular profile or “score” that is precise, clinically
significant and easily interpretable.
Existing TCD equipment is used to scan patients at the point of care; gathering
and extracting blood flow data from ultrasound signals for each of the 23 intracranial
vessels (see Figure 2).
The data is then transmitted via Internet connection to NHSi servers, where proprietary
analytical software is used to calculate the three standard TCD measures. The platform
automatically compiles the patient’s data and compares it to the Company’s proprietary
reference database of asymptomatic subjects (see Figure 3).
In near real time the HVA platform delivers via the Internet a comprehensive report
describing the patient’s hemodynamic state. This report shows TCD parameters as
standard deviations from reference values in both visual and numeric form and, where
needed, also integrates additional hemodynamic or clinical information (see Figure
4).
“NHSi’s HVA platform promises to enhance greatly the relevance and utility of TCD
and other hemodynamic data in the diagnosis and management of neurovascular disease,
and in the development and assessment of therapies for those diseases. I look forward
to continuing my work with NHSi’s leadership to realize its full scientific and
commercial potential.
Rune Aaslid, Ph.D.
(Department of Neurosurgery, Uni. of Bern, Switzerland)
Inventor of TCD, author of seminal publications in neurovascular hemodynamics.
Included in the HVA report, as shown in the example to the below looking at profiles
for dementia, is a graphical representation of the statistical relationship of each
of the 23 intracranial vessels to the asymptomatic norm derived from the database
along three standard TCD measurements. Together they form a highly recognizable
“profile” of normal and disease conditions.
The first Panel shows a composite HVA profile of all 71-80 year old members of the
asymptomatic database as compared to the mean of the entire asymptomatic database
for each of the three TCD parameters for each of the 23 measured vessels. The next
Panel shows the same information for a single patient diagnosed with dementia. The
last Panel shows the same patient one year later evidencing a more pronounced dementia
profile.
This ability to compare symptomatic patients against an asymptomatic reference norm
and to track disease progression and response to therapy is an important new tool
for clinicians. The profiles generated by HVA enable more accurate diagnoses and
management of therapies, resulting in reduced costs and improved patient outcomes.
