ImageIQ™ and Cleveland Clinic Present Findings on Pitching Injuries and Shoulder Anatomy

Study May Help Assess Player Injury Risk

CLEVELAND, Oct. 29, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Image IQ, Inc. announced today that findings from an orthopedic clinical study conducted by ImageIQ and Cleveland Clinic show that professional baseball pitchers with lower degrees of dominant humeral torsion, or the degree of twisting of the long arm bone running from shoulder to elbow, are more prone to severe arm and shoulder injuries. These findings, published in The American Journal of Sports Medicine, have the potential to allow players and teams to assess injury risk in the future, proactively work to prevent injuries and make better-informed player personnel decisions.

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Cleveland-based ImageIQ used custom-tailored 3-dimensional clinical image and motion analysis software to quantitatively measure joint anatomy differences in the shoulders of 25 professional pitchers from computed tomography (CT) image data provided by Cleveland Clinic. The pitchers were followed for two years, and the study recorded the number of days missed from pitching activities as a measure of the severity and incidence of the players' injuries. The study also found a trend relating lower side-to-side torsion differences with more severe upper extremity injuries.

ImageIQ, an Imaging Contract Research Organization (CRO) and spin-off company of Cleveland Clinic Innovations, provides custom-tailored imaging analytics, software engineering and visualization services for research, medical device and pharmaceutical organizations in support of preclinical and clinical research, in additional to product development.

"We were excited to work with Cleveland Clinic to bring our unique approach to orthopedic image data analysis to bear on this study," ImageIQ CEO Tim Kulbago said. "As pitchers must strike a delicate balance between mobility and functional stability, these research findings help us better understand the connection between shoulder range-of-motion and the level of injury suffered by professional baseball players, and how to predict and protect against the most severe arm and shoulder injuries. As a member of Cleveland's biomedical community and a life-long baseball fan, that's great news."

The study's Principal Investigator, Dr. Joshua Polster, staff radiologist in the Department of Diagnostic Radiology within the Cleveland Clinic's Imaging Institute, commented: "We found that simple measurements from standard image data sets were too limited to capture the complex interplay of 3-dimensional anatomic structures that are involved in sports injuries and other orthopedic pathologies, and we needed a more sophisticated approach. This analysis produced meaningful and reliable data for sports medicine experts and professional athletes, and will hopefully help minimize pitching injuries in professional baseball."

This study was supported by grant funding from Major League Baseball (MLB).

About ImageIQ
ImageIQ is an Imaging Contract Research Organization (ICRO) that combines software engineering with biomedical and imaging expertise to provide quantitative visual analysis that enhances R&D and product efficacy/safety testing for research, medical device and pharmaceutical organizations. Incubated within Cleveland Clinic for more than 10 years, ImageIQ provides customized image analytics and reporting, delivering objective quantitative evidence that speeds time to discovery and market entry, reduces internal overhead and improves grant proposal attractiveness and fundability. By advancing the speed of research, ImageIQ customers can extend their expertise and abilities and complete work quickly, allowing innovative staff members to focus on creative solutions to research.
www.Image-IQ.com

About The Imaging Institute at Cleveland Clinic
Cleveland Clinic's Imaging Institute offers a full range of radiology services for adults and children. The Institute is continuously working to provide patients the most up-to-date technological advances and innovative treatment options in diagnostic testing. The Imaging Institute is also one of the leading radiological academic centers in the world as well as one of the busiest clinical departments in the country. Each year over 1.8 million examinations are performed and interpreted by Cleveland Clinic radiologists. The Institute is composed of the Departments of Regional Radiology, Diagnostic Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and eRadiology.

Contact:
Brett Hoover, VP Sales and Marketing
ImageIQ, Inc.
10000 Cedar Ave., Mail Stop #18
Cleveland OH 44106
1-855-462-4347
bhoover@image-iq.com
http://www.Image-IQ.com

SOURCE Image IQ, Inc.