[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 30 (Friday, February 13, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7237-7238]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-3165]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

National Institutes of Health


Government-Owned Inventions; Availability for Licensing

AGENCY: National Institutes of Health, Public Health Service, DHHS.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The inventions listed below are owned by an agency of the U.S. 
Government and are available for licensing in the U.S. in accordance 
with 35 U.S.C. 207 to achieve expeditious commercialization of results 
of federally-funded research and development. Foreign patent 
applications are filed on selected inventions to extend market coverage 
for companies and may also be available for licensing.

[[Page 7238]]


ADDRESSES: Licensing information and copies of the U.S. patent 
applications listed below may be obtained by writing to the indicated 
licensing contact at the Office of Technology Transfer, National 
Institutes of Health, 6011 Executive Boulevard, Suite 325, Rockville, 
Maryland 20852-3804; telephone: 301/496-7057; fax: 301/402-0220. A 
signed Confidential Disclosure Agreement will be required to receive 
copies of the patent applications.

UltraRad--A Method and Probe To Enhance Radiation Delivery

C. Norman Coleman (NCI), Robert Miller (NCI), Brian Justus (NRL), and 
Alan Huston (NRL)
U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/453,934 filed 11 Mar 2003 (DHHS 
Reference No. E-049-2003/0-US-01)
Licensing Contact: Michael Shmilovich; 301/435-5019; 
[email protected].

    Available for licensing and commercialization in a novel technique 
of locating a tumor in 3-dimensional space to provide a precisely 
targeted external radiation beam directed to the tumor. A catheter like 
probe equipped with an ultrasound transducer for precise local imaging 
of the tumor, and proprietary radiation dosimeters for measuring the 
amount of radiation delivered by the external beam. The probe would 
also be equipped with a flow-through drug delivery system that could 
provide radiation opaque material to protect the area surrounding the 
tumor from radiation damage. It is envisioned that controlling the 
external radiation beam will be in response to radiation detected by 
the probe. Of interest is the utility of the probe in phantom models 
and prostate cancer. The method and apparatus utilizes a radiation-
detecting array of radiation sensitive dosimeters for the real-time 
remote measurement of radiotherapy at the radiation-detecting array. 
The radiation-detecting array is positioned within the patient's body 
along the treatment path before or after the identified radiotherapy 
target or the device may be positioned beyond the patient to measure 
transit dose. A radiation source for emitting radiation for 
radiotherapy along a treatment path through the patient to the 
identified radiotherapy target is utilized. The method includes 
generating a predicted dose pattern of radiation at the placed 
radiation-detecting array. The predicted dose pattern assumes an on-
target radiation source emitting the radiotherapy beam along the 
treatment path through the patient to the identified radiotherapy 
target. Gating of the radiation source can occur responsive to the 
comparing of the predicted dose pattern of radiation to the real-time 
dose pattern at the radiation-detecting array. Radiation intensity can 
vary between low levels to a treatment level responsive to coincidence 
of the predicted dose pattern of radiation to the real-time dose 
pattern at the radiation-detecting array.

Computer-Aided Classification of Anomalies in Anatomical Structures

Ronald Summers, Marek Franaszek, Gheorge Iordanescu (CC)
U.S. Patent Application No. 10/671,749 filed 26 Sep 2003 (DHHS 
Reference No. E-077-2002/0-US-03)
Licensing Contact: Michael Shmilovich; 301/435-5019; 
[email protected].

    Available for licensing is a software enabled method for improving 
the sensitivity and specificity of computer aided detection (CAD) for 
computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) 
colonography. Colonography is an imaging test that identifies polyps 
and cancers of the colon and may be useful for reducing the incidence, 
morbidity and mortality of colon cancer in human beings. The invention 
comprises three main areas of characterization used to substantially 
reduce the number of CAD false positives: (1) analysis of the neck of a 
colon polyp can help distinguish true positive from false positive 
tumor detections (2) characterization of the colon wall thickness in 
the proximity of the polyp has been found to be determinative in 
distinguishing polyps, and (3) templates that mimic the shape of 
different types of polyps (for example, those on folds, sessile polyps, 
pedunculated polyps etc.) can improve sensitivity and increase 
specificity.

    Dated: February 5, 2004.
Steven M. Ferguson,
Director, Division of Technology Development and Transfer, Office of 
Technology Transfer, National Institutes of Health.
[FR Doc. 04-3165 Filed 2-12-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4140-01-P