Vibrant Technology at the Heart of Five Innovative Companies, one of five companies profiled

Founded in 2010 by three men of Israeli descent, ControlRad has recently relocated from Pennsylvania to Georgia. I was able to speak to CEO Guillaume Bailliard as he settled in at their new Global Headquarters in Peachtree Corners.

They moved from Atlanta Tech Park to their new office space at 275 Scientific Dr. N.W. after securing $15 million from Questa Capital in September. “That helped fuel the growth of the company, including planting our flag here, at this facility,” Bailliard said.

Their Research and Development Team, comprised of 20 R&D engineers, is located in Kfar Saba, just outside of Tel Aviv. “The number one place in the world today for startups per capita in Israel,” Bailliard shared.

X-rays Come at a Cost

To fully appreciate ControlRad’s innovation, it’s important to understand a bit of x-ray technology. Hint: think ‘control radiation.’

“The radiation you get from x-ray is ionizing radiation—high-energy wavelengths or particles that penetrate tissue to reveal the body’s internal organs and structures. Ionizing radiation can damage DNA.” [Radiation Risk from Medical Imaging (2018), Harvard Health Publishing, Harvard Medical School]

X-rays allow us to see inside the body without invasive surgery. Traditionally, static x-ray is used if you break your arm, in order to see the fracture. It’s the same type of x-ray you get at the dentist’s office. “There is very little risk with that single exposure,” Bailliard explained.

However, continuous x-ray or Fluoroscopy, used by doctors like cardiologists, spine surgeons and urologists to see specific organs in real-time and to deploy devices inside the body like stents, without having to perform exploratory surgery, “subjects medical staff and patients to a tremendous amount of dangerous and unnecessary x-ray exposures in a single procedure,” Bailliard said. “A certain percentage of that prolonged radiation exposure scatters outside the body to the medical staff and to patients needlessly.”

During a fluoroscopic procedure, the physician is at the table beside to you, deploying the devices and getting radiated in very close proximity to the x-ray unit.

What Drives ControlRad’s Innovation?

The issue is that much of the scattered radiation reaches the medical staff. “They get roughly 150,000 worth of chest x-rays over a lifetime. This is a lot like the NFL concussion story,” Bailliard said, “in the sense that the issues with concussions have always been there, but it is only recently that we truly understand the long-term impact of repeated concussions.”

Similarly, medical staff has always been subjected to radiation, but the adverse effects of this have not been well-documented until now. Risks include increased incidents of cataracts, atherosclerosis, strokes and left-brain tumors. (The x-ray tube is closest to the left side of the physician’s head during procedures.)

Don’t be Afraid to Seek Treatment

While we may have a fluoroscopic procedure once or twice in a lifetime, physicians are performing them repeatedly throughout the day. ControlRad helps protect the medical staff providing life-saving treatment to patients.

“I don’t want readers to be afraid of going to see a cardiologist to get treated, or to get an x-ray of the hand,” Bailliard said. “Everyone should ask the right questions about the risks of radiation with their physicians. The risks for patients are very low. It’s a risk-benefit ratio and the benefits typically greatly outweigh the risks.”

How Low Can You Go?

Since no amount of radiation from an x-ray is good for you, ControlRad adheres to the FDA espoused guiding principle of radiation safety: ALARA, which stands for: As Low as Reasonably Achievable. In other words, how low can you get radiation exposure without impacting the ability to treat patients?
Am I the only one singing “How Low Can You Go” in my head right now?

To that end, it is ControlRad’s mission to dramatically reduce the unnecessary risks associated with gratuitous radiation exposure without compromising image quality or workflow. It’s an undertaking that benefits both patients and physicians, but their primary focus is on protecting medical staff who are in harm’s way for the span of their careers.

ControlRad Reduces Radiation by up to 89%

510(k) Cleared—the FDA has granted permission to go to market—ControlRad’s device consists of three components retrofitted onto existing x-ray units. (See Figure 1.)

1. EYE TRACKER / TABLET
   Used to select the region-of-interest (ROI), either by detecting where the doctor is looking, or by allowing the doctor to draw an ROI manually on the tablet.
2. INTEGRATED SEMI-TRANSPARENT TITANIUM FILTER
   The filter sits on top of the x-ray tube. It moves in real-time focusing on the selected ROI and reducing the x-ray beam outside the ROI, thereby filtering out unnecessary scatter radiation.
3. ADVANCED IMAGE PROCESSOR
   Image processing algorithms help improve the image quality delivered to the physician.

The Launch

A published and peer-reviewed study has demonstrated a 75% radiation reduction to both patient and medical staff, using ControlRad’s technology. This ground-breaking device has recently been launched and is currently in limited release.

“The objective is to pressure test the product, the feature sets, our logistics, our service, and our training,” Bailliard said. “We’ve done a number of installations and are actually looking into having some installations in Atlanta. We’re in the process of talking with those teams.”

Feedback

Dr. Andrew Cappuccino in Niagara Falls suggested that not only was the radiation exposure to himself and to his patient drastically reduced, but he believes he saw an improvement in image quality as well.
“It makes sense to us that there is an improvement in image quality because we’re reducing the amount of scatter radiation in the ROI, but we’ll do additional studies to validate that,” Bailliard noted. “Our objective was to reduce unnecessary x-ray radiation and not negatively impact image quality. What we’re finding is that there’s potentially a very strong improvement in image quality as well.”

Why Peachtree Corners?

Bailliard cited the convenient location, its proximity to Atlanta, as well as access to a critical mass of medical device talent. “The key to any business is to be able to attract the right people. Being nicely centralized in this area we have folks coming from Marietta, from down-town and from further north.”
He also referred to the fact that the cost of doing business in Peachtree Corners is lower than in the Northeast where they were previously located and certainly lower than in Atlanta.

Perhaps my favorite reason they’ve chosen our city for their global headquarters: “We’re outside of the craziness of inside the perimeter, yet we’re in this Technology Park. That’s been the key,” Bailliard stated.

Looking to the Future

I wondered aloud if one day, patients would be able to seek out physicians who employ ControlRad’s technology.

“Actually, hospitals that are looking at our technology are looking to market to patients. Because there is a benefit to patients, we’re reducing the amount of unnecessary radiation exposure. That’s a good story,” Bailliard proclaimed.