Prof. Karim Karim of Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Waterloo, Ontario, CANADA

Dual-energy (DE) radiography is a technique that can remove specific anatomical noise from a radiograph and generate tissue-subtracted images. Typically, a trio of images is presented comprised of standard digital radiography (DR) image, a soft-tissue image where the bone tissue has been removed, and a bone image where the soft tissue is not present. Dual-energy X-ray images have been demonstrated clinically over 20 years to provide significantly better detection of pulmonary diseases (including pneumonia, pneumothorax, lung nodules, and tuberculosis) compared to traditional digital X-rays.  However, current dual-energy X-ray approaches use two sequential, spectrally different X-ray exposures that cause motion artifact streaks in the image and also demand a fixed bulky system with a special X-ray source and a well-defined source to detector geometry.  In this research, we will describe the invention, development, and testing of a portable, single-shot, dual-energy large-area flat-panel X-ray detector that achieves dual-energy images, excellent dose efficiency with zero motion artifact. This detector, called Reveal, is US FDA cleared and is being used for the detection of pneumonia (including COVID-19) and lung cancer in multiple hospitals across Canada. The Reveal detector is universally compatible with all X-ray systems (CR, DR, fixed, mobile) enabling a significant performance improvement in the 500,000 global X-ray install base. Like color photographic film replaced black and white film, Reveal is initiating a global transition from black and white X-ray to dual-energy or color X-ray to usher in a new era of higher sensitivity, point-of-care X-ray diagnostics for better patient outcomes and more efficient healthcare.

Biography:

Karim S. Karim received his BASc and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Waterloo, and an MBA in Health Sector Management from the University of Toronto. He is currently the Chief Technology Officer of KA Imaging, the Executive Director for the Center for Bioengineering and Biotechnology, and a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Waterloo. Since 1998, Karim has developed a novel X-ray imaging devices and methods. He has trained over 40 Ph.D. and MASc students, has co-authored 250+ publications and has 50+ patents. Karim has supported multiple startups and founded multiple companies in the past two decades including KA Imaging, a University of Waterloo spinoff that is commercializing his X-ray research including Reveal, the world’s only portable dual-energy spectral X-ray detector that recently received US FDA 510(k) clearance and is now being used clinically in North America to detect lung cancer and pneumonia (including COVID-19) with higher sensitivity than conventional X-rays. Some of the imaging circuit technology developed during Karim’s graduate work is also now used in ultrasonic fingerprint sensors in commercial mobile phones and tablets.

Email:

Address:Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, N2L 3G1