Aclarion, Inc. (Nasdaq: ACON, ACONW), a commercial-stage healthcare technology company, announced a second commercial agreement with Weill Cornell Medicine to deploy its Nociscan platform in a new clinical trial. The trial, led by renowned neurosurgeon Roger Härtl, MD, will explore the long-term effects of lumbar microdiscectomy surgery with and without intradiscal bone marrow aspirate concentrate (BMAC) injection on patient outcomes and pain biomarkers.
The study, titled "Bone Marrow Aspirate Concentrate Injection with MRI’s – a Prospective Randomized Controlled Trial" (IRB Protocol No. 24-09027977), aims to deepen understanding of degenerative disc disease (DDD) and its treatment. Nociscan, an augmented intelligence (AI)-powered SaaS platform, noninvasively analyzes chemical biomarkers from magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) data to help physicians identify painful discs in the lumbar spine. Aclarion reports a 97% surgical success rate when all Nociscan-identified pain-positive discs are treated.
Chronic low back pain (cLBP) affects approximately 266 million people worldwide, according to a 2018 study in Global Spine Journal. Current diagnostic tools often struggle to pinpoint the exact source of pain, leading to suboptimal treatment outcomes. Nociscan addresses this gap by objectively quantifying biomarkers associated with disc pain, providing critical insights that can guide surgical or interventional decisions.
Roger Härtl, MD, Hansen-MacDonald Professor of Neurological Surgery and Director of Spinal Surgery at Weill Cornell Medicine, emphasized the significance of the research. "Our scientific interest focuses on clinical and basic science research surrounding innovative and less invasive surgical and biological treatment strategies for degenerative diseases of the spine. This trial strives to enhance our understanding of disc degeneration in patients, and illuminate chemical aspects of disc degeneration not available with traditional imaging."
Ryan Bond, Chief Strategy Officer of Aclarion, highlighted the importance of the collaboration. "We are pleased to engage in this trial with Dr. Härtl and his team at Weill Cornell. Not only are Dr. Härtl and his colleagues renowned for their clinical excellence, their commitment to pioneering research is evident through this prospective randomized trial evaluating disc degeneration and the potential effects of bone marrow aspirate concentrate. Progressive trials such as this one are a clear example for how healthcare advances – investigating a major global health issue, like degenerative disc disease, while using innovative tools like Nociscan."
This marks the second trial at Weill Cornell Medicine incorporating Nociscan, signaling growing adoption of the technology in academic medical centers. The platform's ability to provide objective biomarker data could shift the standard of care for chronic low back pain, reducing unnecessary surgeries and improving patient outcomes. For industry leaders, this development underscores the increasing role of AI and biomarkers in precision medicine, particularly in musculoskeletal conditions where diagnostic uncertainty remains high.
For more information about Aclarion and Nociscan, visit the company's newsroom at https://tinyurl.com/aconnewsroom. To find a Nociscan center, view the site map here.
