SuperSonic Imagine's Aixplorer(R) Ultrasound System Delivers Enhanced Liver Imaging to SurgOne, P.C.

AIX-EN-PROVENCE, FRANCE--(Marketwired - Apr 26, 2017) - SuperSonic Imagine (EURONEXT PARIS: SSI) (FR0010526814), a company specializing in ultrasound medical imaging, today announced the installation of its flagship Aixplorer ultrasound system at SurgOne, P.C., a comprehensive general surgery group serving greater Denver. Physicians at SurgOne will use Aixplorer to assess liver disease and characterize liver tissue in its hepatobiliary and transplant specialty services.

Real-time ShearWave™ Elastography (SWE™), available only on the Aixplorer ultrasound system, is a 60-second non-invasive exam that can be used for imaging patients with liver disease, and does require a physician's referral. SWE offers the advantage of real-time imaging of liver anatomy, while also providing not only a color-coded map of liver stiffness, but also a quantification tool for the measurement of an important parameter for liver diagnostics.

Over 100 international publications have demonstrated the accuracy, reliability and effectiveness of SuperSonic Imagine's SWE in this area.

Less than 2 weeks ago, the results of an international multicenter study on 1134 patients were published in Hepatology, and confirmed the benefit of SWE in the non-invasive assesment of liver fibrosis¹, including for patients with diseases such as hepatitis C that may require repeated follow-up evaluations. Although biopsy has been considered the standard for assessing liver fibrosis severity, the drawbacks of this invasive approach include significant incidence of morbidity, high procedure costs due to longer hospitalisation, and clinical shortcomings. Fibrosis is even sometimes underestimated in 10-30% of cases.^2,3

"We are proud to bring this innovative imaging platform to our patients with chronic liver disease. Not only does it allow me to evaluate liver fibrosis very precisely and reliably, but it also offers a non-invasive and painless experience for our patients," commented Dr. W. Ben Vernon, whose surgical specialties at SurgOne include transplant and hepatobiliary procedures. SWE is performed at the SurgOne offices adjacent to HealthOne Presbyterian/St. Luke's Medical Center. 

"SuperSonic Imagine SWE's highly accurate assessment of liver stiffness, combined with the known benefit of ultrasound imaging makes our product a valuable addition to esteemed practices like SurgOne. We are privileged to work with this facility and others like it that need innovative diagnostic solutions," said Alex Exposito, Director of North America Sales. 

¹ Assessment of biopsy-proven liver fibrosis by 2D-shear wave elastography: An individual patient data based meta-analysis. Herrmann E, de Lédinghen V, Cassinotto C, Chu WC, Leung VY, Ferraioli G, Filice C, Castera L, Vilgrain V, Ronot M, Dumortier J, Guibal A, Pol S, Trebicka J, Jansen C, Strassburg C, Zheng R, Zheng J, Francque S, Vanwolleghem T, Vonghia L, Manesis EK, Zoumpoulis P, Sporea I, Thiele M, Krag A, Cohen-Bacrie C, Criton A, Gay J, Deffieux T, Friedrich-Rust M. Hepatology. 2017 Mar 31. doi: 10.1002/hep.29179. Le lien PubMed : https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28370257
² Sampling error and intraobserver variation in liver biopsy in patients with chronic HCV infection. Regev A, Berho, M, Jeffers LJ, Milikowski C, Molina EG, Pyrsopoulos NT, Feng ZZ, Reddy KR, Schiff ER. Am J Gastroenterol. 2002 Oct;97(10):2614-8.
³ Sources of variability in histological scoring of chronic viral hepatitis. Rousselet MC, Michalak S, Dupré F, Croué, A, Bedossa P, Saint-André JP, Calès P; Hepatitis Network 49. Hepatology. 2005 Feb;41(2):257-64.

About SuperSonic Imagine

Founded in 2005 and based in Aix-en-Provence (France), SuperSonic Imagine is a company specializing in medical imaging. The company designs, develops and markets a revolutionary ultrasound system, Aixplorer®, with an UltraFast™ platform that can acquire images 200 times faster than conventional ultrasound systems. In addition to providing exceptional image quality, this unique technology is the foundation of several innovations which have changed the paradigm of ultrasound imaging: ShearWave™ Elastography (SWE™), UltraFast™ Doppler and more recently Angio PL.U.S - Planewave UltraSensitive™ Imaging.

ShearWave Elastography allows physicians to visualize and analyze the stiffness of tissue in a real-time, reliable, reproducible and non-invasive manner. This criteria has become an important parameter in diagnosing potentially malignant tissue or other diseased tissue. As of today, over 300 peer-reviewed publications have demonstrated the value of SWE for the clinical management of patients with a wide range of diseases. UltraFast Doppler combines Color Flow Imaging and Pulsed Wave Doppler into one simple exam, providing physicians with exam results simultaneously and helping to increase patient throughput. The latest innovation, Angio PL.U.S, provides a new level of microvascular imaging through significantly improved color sensitivity and spatial resolution while maintaining exceptional 2D imaging.

SuperSonic Imagine has been granted regulatory clearances for the commercialization of Aixplorer in key global markets. SuperSonic Imagine is a listed company since April 2014 on the Euronext, symbol SSI. For more information about SuperSonic Imagine, please go to www.supersonicimagine.com.