A patient with lipid core plaques (LCP) is more vulnerable to coronary artery disease (CAD), the number one killer in developed countries such as the United States. To help cardiologists detect LCP, Infraredx developed the TVC Imaging System™. The TVC Imaging System is the only FDA-approved medical device for LCP detection. It combines near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) with intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) in a single coronary catheter to provide information about vessel composition and structure.
Infraredx engaged MathWorks Consulting Services to accelerate the development and FPGA implementation of the IVUS signal and image processing algorithms in the TVC Imaging System using MATLAB®, Simulink®, and HDL Coder™. “On the first project that we worked on with MathWorks Consulting Services, we cut development time in half by generating HDL for our core IVUS algorithms,” says Dr. Zhihua He, principal imaging scientist at Infraredx. “More importantly the consultants taught us how we could accelerate FPGA implementation on future projects ourselves by using Simulink and HDL Coder.”