We use a shear wave which occurs when shock

We sum from 3 people to about 100 in three years. "Is it a success story to the American who was born in Aix-en-Provence All the ingredients seem together to make this innovative PMI, called "Supersonic Imaging", a new player in a world of medical imaging who loves especially the heavyweights: General Electric, Siemens, Philips, Toshiba. Jacques Souquet, founder and CEO of the company, lived twenty-five years in the United States, where he learned plenty, starting with art and how to create a business using a technology failure. After a distinguished career overseas at the head of research at Philips Medical Services, it is planned to withdraw quietly in the South of the France. He met Mathias Fink, a French researcher in butte with his employer scrupulous administration: CNRS (read "Les Echos" from June 3).

The scientist wants to leave in the United States to enhance his discoveries in the field of the propagation of acoustic waves. He met Jacques Souquet and the two friends do business. The start-up starts in 2005 after an amazing harvest of grants, endowments, and premiums at national and regional development. A Fellowship of the RDA, a repayable advance of 1.4 million euro Oséo and a price of 450,000 euros awarded by the Ministry of research. "It is not more difficult to create a business in France only elsewhere.". "It is sufficient to be well surrounded by," added Jacques Souquet. From this point of view, Supersonic Imaging is not in need.

Double source of waves

The list of founders consists of seven experts deemed to be in the world of health. As the rule requires us, need a Nobel Prize to impress investors. This is the physicist Georges Charpak is dedicated. In total, these eight officials accumulate an incredible collection of scientific publications, titles and distinctions, which probably adds a large address book as the Manhattan telephone directory. To the point that it said: "If they do not, there is more to do nothing."

Ultrasound is a technique of medical imaging database. By measuring the propagation of a sound wave in a fabric (in fact, ultrasound), can be quite precisely reconstruct an image of a body. This review is totally safe (the source does not appeal to ionizing radiation). This technique has made enormous progress, and its resolution is currently of the order of the millimeter. Reverse of the coin, from an ultrasound images have a low contrast, which makes their delicate interpretation.

The basic idea of Supersonic is to add a second wave, which complements the first. "We use a shear wave, which occurs when shock." It spreads very slowly, between 1 and 5 metres per second. "This allows to see the outlines of a tumor with the order of the millimetre accuracy," said Mathias Fink, who heads the laboratory waves and acoustics (LOA) installed at the ESPCI () in Paris. On the principle of the double source of waves, AIX has designed an ultrasound that the price should be of the order of 90.000 euros. "We have 17 machines being tested in Europe and the United States," added Jacques Souquet. A prototype of the Aixplorer is presented in French Radiology days, held at this time in Paris. The first applications are the mammograms, where ultrasound imaging is still critical (with MRI).

Six patents

When it breaks new ground, so go to the end of the logic. Alongside the development of its "revolutionary" ultrasound, the Provençal PMI has also embarked on a programme of cost reduction based on a simple principle: use electronic components of the trade. The choice is focused on maps from the world of video games (Nvidia) graphics. In addition to their low cost, these components are compatible with the speed of seizure of the ultrasound images. "The low speed of propagation of waves we forced to take a very large amount of images." "In fact, we are working at a rate of 10,000 frames per second", said Mathias Fink. After long negotiations, CNRS has finally agreed to cede the 6 patent covering the product, and manufacturing will be able to start the manufacture of its "Aixplorer". "Investors cannot engage with a company that does not have a full interest in the intellectual property of its products", explains Jacques Souquet.