Last checked at 
LONDON (Alliance News) - Medical imaging software company, Feedback PLC, Monday said that the results of the study of its TexRAD software in CT scans for patients with kidney stones are so far "promising".
In April, Feedback signed a research agreement with the Oxford Stone Group at the University of Oxford and Oxford University Hospital NHS Trust to investigate the potential future clinical application of Feedback's TexRAD texture analysis software on computed tomography (CT) image data of patients with kidney stones.
Feedback said the results from the 38-patient retrospective study are so far "promising", as Oxford researchers have demonstrated that TexRAD texture analysis could identify from pre-treatment CT scans which patients would have "successful" shockwave lithotripsy therapy from those who would have "unsuccessful" therapy.
"Shock Wave Lithotripsy (SWL) is a well-established non-invasive surgical procedure for urolithiasis. However around 30-40% of patients do not achieve stone clearance and proceed to alternative treatments. We have demonstrated in this first preliminary study that TexRAD CT textural analysis appears to be an independent novel predictive biomarker for SWL success. TexRAD CT texture analysis may be a useful tool for risk-stratification and more accurately triaging those patients who will benefit from SWL," Senior Clinical Researcher in Urology at the University of Oxford, Ben Turney, said in a statement.
"The next step is to undertake a prospective study to ascertain the clinical utility of this finding in a large population. Additionally, we shall explore other research questions such as assessing the stone composition and differentiate between actual stones and those conditions that mimic stone-like characteristics to increase diagnostic confidence and prevent unnecessary costly investigation and treatments," he added.
Shares in Feedback soared up 21.1% to 2.30p Monday afternoon.
By Karolina Kaminska; karolinakaminska@alliancenews.com @KarolinaAllNews
Copyright 2015 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.