Emerging research relating to vulnerable plaque, points to a great need for intravascular evaluation of small arteries in the cardiovascular system. Early evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment of this condition are considered critical to the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease.

A seven year old emerging growth company, TopSpin Medical, is currently completing the development of a novel diagnostic tool that will image vulnerable plaque more clearly than any other existing technique. They have engineered the ability of performing local magnetic resonance imaging with a miniature hand-held scanner.

Inventor of the medical breakthrough is Erez Golan, a phsyicist who served as a cardiovascular imaging group leader at Medinol. The TopSpin technology is protected by 15 patents.

Initial clinical trials are proving the efficacy of the system. IHTIR met with Eyal Kolka, the company's chief financial officer at the headquarters located in Lod, half an hours outside of Tel-Aviv. "We expect to enter the market either at the end of 2006 or at the outset of 2007", Kalka noted.

Financing the company's activities are being financed from previous fund raising. $20m. was raised initially from private investors and several of Israel's venture capital companies. "Johnson & Johnson, has expressed its faith in us by investing in three separate rounds of investment," pointed out Kalka.

The company has an additional product in the pipeline. Its prostate MRI is an office based system with a hand-held MRI probe that provides high imaging resolution of prostate cancer. The market is substatntial with 1.5m. procedures carries out annually in the US.

The company has an additional product in the pipeline. Its prostate MRI is an office based system with a hand-held MRI probe that provides high imaging resolution of prostate cancer. The market is substantial with 1.5m. procedures carries out annually in the US.