MAUI Imaging Highlights Publication Of Baseline Imaging Analysis for Traumatic Injuries Showing Imaging Breakthrough

Computed Echo Tomography (CET) Described as Addressing Limitations of Conventional Ultrasound

TUCSON, Ariz., July 29, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- MAUI Imaging, inventor of patented technology that visualizes anatomy often missed with conventional ultrasound, today highlighted publication of a baseline B-mode imaging analysis for traumatic injuries in the peer-reviewed Journal of The American College of Emergency Physicians (JACEP Open) https://www.jacepopen.com/article/S2688-1152%2825%2900139-0/fulltext.

"The authors found Computed Echo Tomography-based B-mode imaging virtually eliminates bone-related artifacts, allowing access to critical brain and extremity imaging and removes rib shadows from thoracic and abdominal organ imaging," said MAUI Imaging CEO and co-founder David Specht. "CET imaging is gaining accelerated interest in field-based trauma diagnosis and in general imaging, where mobility, safety, speed and cost are priorities."

The authors include Matthew Bradley, MD, and Melissa Myers, MD, of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, former Surgeon General of the U.S. Air Force, Lt. Gen. (retired) Paul K. Carlton, Jr., MD, Rosemary Kozar, MD, PhD, and Elizabeth Powell, MD, of the University of Maryland School of Medicine, John McGahan, MD, of the University of California Davis Medical Center, Dare Nwaka, ARDMS of the University of Maryland Baltimore County, and John Cheronis, MD, PhD, Michael Cronan, ARDMS, and David Specht of MAUI Imaging.

A presentation of the findings is anticipated at the Military Health System Research Symposium being held August 4-7 in Kissimmee, Florida.

The authors conducted three whole-body imaging sessions with six volunteers. Sixty-five predefined views of four different anatomic regions were obtained at each session. Images were scored by five clinicians experienced in trauma and general surgery, emergency medicine, and interventional radiology using the American College of Emergency Physicians 5-point diagnostic ultrasound image quality scoring system. Imaging scores equal or greater than three were deemed adequate for inclusion in a full body imaging protocol under development for the U.S. military.

More than 90 percent were deemed acceptable for clinical decision making. Nearly 17 percent had average scores between three and four, and greater than 70 percent had average scores greater or equal to four. Imaging the cranial vault demonstrated numerous anatomic details. Extremity imaging revealed detailed views of both the boney cortex and the medullary cavity. Abdominal imaging revealed clear views of the liver, spleen, and kidneys without any rib artifacts.

MAUI Imaging emerged from stealth in August 2024 with the announcement of a $4 million U.S. Department of Defense (US Army Medical Research and Development Command) contract to support trauma medicine across four branches of the military seeking to enable faster diagnosis and interventional care in high volume or mass casualty events and resource limited environments.

Department of Defense:

The USAMRDC-enabled program is sponsored by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs through the Combat Casualty Care Research Program under Award No. HT9425-23-3-0002. It is being implemented at the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, which is one of the major trauma centers where the military trains trauma surgeons and other related health care providers.

A committee of independent expert physicians reported that MAUI represents a categoric change in ultrasound imaging that offers the potential for significantly improving patient management in emergent settings, regardless of the availability of other imaging modalities. In certain cases, like cranial and spinal imaging in adults, where traditional ultrasound has not been traditionally employed, MAUI has been reported to provide clinically meaningful images needed by physicians to diagnose, triage, and treat serious injuries. Traditional ultrasound cannot image intracranially without a significant "window" into the skull involving large fractures or surgically removed bone. As a result, patients require CT or MRI scans which are often unavailable.  MAUI is designed to change this and aims to decrease time to diagnosis and treatment.

Views and conclusions contained in this release are those of MAUI Imaging and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies or endorsements, either expressed or implied, of the U.S. Government.

MAUI's510K FDA clearance:

In October 2023, the MAUI K3900 device received its 510(k) FDA clearance and is now available for commercial use.

The MAUI K3900 Ultrasound Imaging System is intended for use by qualified healthcare personnel in environments where healthcare is provided for ultrasound evaluation of Fetal; Abdominal; Pediatric; Small Organ (breast, testes, thyroid); Neonatal Cephalic; Adult Cephalic; Cardiac (adult and pediatric); Peripheral Vascular; Musculo-skeletal Conventional and Superficial; Urology (including prostate); and Intraoperative (abdominal, thoracic and vascular). Examples of differentiating images for use in trauma, neurosurgery and interventional radiology can be found at mauiimaging.com/solutions.

MAUI's Patented Computed Echo Tomography (CET):

MAUI Imaging has created a novel and effective approach to diagnostic imaging resultant in a cross between ultrasound and CT without the need for dangerous ionizing radiation (x-rays). MAUI's CET "pings" the designated part of the human body, uniquely visualizing anatomy beyond what other ultrasound systems can produce. MAUI then uses proprietary patented algorithms to accommodate the reflected energy from various flight paths and sums the data to create a reliable image of all the structures below the probe. Barriers such as bone, gas, fat, instruments, implants, etc. become part of the image instead of obstacles to image formation. MAUI is currently performing clinical studies with the military and elsewhere to fully demonstrate these capabilities.

MAUI's core patents deal with solving speed-of-sound aberration issues in tissue, enabling views of a variety of tissue types, including lung and cranium, previously thought to be unobtainable. MAUI's portfolio includes more than 160 granted patents and dozens more pending in and outside the U.S.

MAUI uses a concave probe that fires pulses (pings) into the tissue from many different angles.  The MAUI probe's concave shape sends and receives energy from multiple angles, one of the reasons that allow MAUI to see through and around traditional barriers. This ability is unknown to other ultrasound-based systems. MAUI probe apertures can also be much larger than traditional probes as they do not need to navigate between barriers, such as the ribs, making it more easily positioned over regions of interest. While a highly trained sonographer technician or physician is typically required to acquire images around the ribs in order to aim at what they want to visualize, with MAUI, the user can see beyond barriers without requiring more invasive imaging approaches.

The MAUI approach requires trillions of calculations per second and would not have been possible in a portable, cost-effective solution without chip advances often described as Moore's Law. MAUI's approach also creates a significantly larger data set that can be sliced into as many images as necessary, more like CT than traditional ultrasound. The datasets that MAUI produces can be used for deeper analytics, providing more insight about the anatomy it scans. MAUI's volumetric imaging has the potential to significantly expand the role of ultrasound in AI-driven diagnostics.

About MAUI

MAUI Imaging's Computed Echo Tomography (CET), uses ultrasound to insonify tissues through and beyond barriers for rapid and effective imaging of the human body and is protected by more than 160 patents. MAUI's FDA Cleared system produces a large-scale dataset enabling novel insights that can assist in rapid and effective diagnosis and interventions. MAUI Imaging has multiple clinical sites and studies in process in trauma, neurosurgery, and interventional radiology. MAUI's CET system enables rapid imaging of the brain, and other internal organs and structures, in real time by existing clinical personnel without additional training.  For more information visit mauiimaging.com.

Media Contact:
Chris Gale
chris@galestrategies.com 

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SOURCE MAUI