Palo Alto, Calif.-based Nines announces that the U.S. FDA has granted 510(k) clearance to NinesMeasure, its lung nodule measurement tool built with artificial intelligence (AI) that can accelerate diagnoses of certain respiratory diseases.

“To our knowledge, NinesMeasure is the only lung nodule measurement tool cleared by the FDA that was developed by a combined team of radiologists and engineers collaborating every day,” says Michael Kelleher, MD, president of Nines Radiology. “This advanced tool can significantly reduce the amount of time our radiologists spend measuring pulmonary nodules, improving time to diagnosis for patients without rushing our radiologists.”

The FDA clearance for NinesMeasure is the second FDA clearance in 10 months for the Silicon Valley-based teleradiology practice, demonstrating the company’s commitment to transforming the use of technology in radiology. Last April, Nines also received FDA clearance for artificial intelligence technology that triages mass effect conditions and intracranial hemorrhages.

Lung nodule measurement can be tedious and time-consuming as each nodule has to be measured carefully to determine changes in size over time. NinesMeasure enables radiologists to quickly measure the long and short axes of selected nodules with a high level of accuracy. It can also help address inter-study consistency spanning a patient’s full treatment program.

In addition to the FDA clearance for its lung nodule measurement tool, Nines also announces that its recent focus on improving clinical workflow has demonstrated a 40% gain in efficiency over three months. Nines radiologists are seeing reduced interruptions from non-diagnostic workflow automation, from one-click communications with emergency room physicians to an “always-ready” worklist of studies. Imaging centers and hospitals that rely on Nines can see more reliable turnaround times because radiologists are not distracted by administrative tasks and other non-diagnostic functions, which slow time to diagnosis for patients, company officials say.

Moreover, at Nines, radiologists are paired with in-house engineers to collaborate and develop new techniques. “In general, radiology is tech-forward in its use of digital imaging,” says David Stavens, PhD, co-founder and CEO of Nines. “But innovation can make it better.

“Nines has been leading the way by pairing two seemingly disparate groups—skilled radiologists and brilliant engineers—to transform the practice of radiology to be more accessible and more efficient, delivering faster results for quality patient care,” Stavens adds. “That is worth innovating.”