Sydney Olsen: [00:00:00] VIP podcast presented by Vibrant IP, a show about the people, ideas, and patented technologies moving innovation forward. I'm your host, Sydney Olsen. Today, I'm joined by Dr. Poplaw to talk about smart color medical imaging, which is an inventive approach to improving visualization in both ultrasound and robotic surgery.

Sydney Olsen: We'll explore where this idea came from, how the technology works, and what it could mean for physicians and patients. Dr. Poplaw, thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you. I'm so excited to hear all about the background and your story. Um, so yeah, let's get right into it. The first question I have for you is just tell me a little bit about yourself, your background, um, and how you became interested in radiology.

Dr. Steven Poplaw:Well, my name's Dr. Steven Poplaw. I did, uh, training at Stanford University in cardiovascular [00:01:00] imaging, and currently I'm in private practice at a busy regional hospital. So I have a very busy lifestyle, and I'm always reading X-rays, CAT scans, MRIs. So I'm really at kind of the forefront of healthcare.

Sydney Olsen: Yeah.

Sydney Olsen: That's amazing. Was there a particular, you know, experience or mentor that really piqued your interest in radiology, or has it just been kind of something you've always been passionate about?

Dr. Steven Poplaw:Well, I love medicine, and I love the challenge of it. I like taking care of patients, but I also like technology.

Dr. Steven Poplaw: So I found that radiology was kind of a good combination of both technology and patient care. So that was my main interest.

Sydney Olsen: Yeah, definitely. That's, that's really awesome. So where did this idea for your patent come from?

Dr. Steven Poplaw:This idea really came around the time of COVID, and, um, I s- e- like everybody else, I spent a lot of time at home, and I spent a lot of time with my kid, [00:02:00] watching him play video games.

Dr. Steven Poplaw:And it might sound funny, but when you look at, like, Xbox games or PS5, they're very detailed, they're in color, and I just wondered, like, okay, why is it that medical imaging is, like, black and white, you can barely see anything, and these kids are way more advanced than we are?

Sydney Olsen: Right? Yeah, that's a, that's a smart observation.

Sydney Olsen: I know, it's kind of funny because when you think about the medical industry, you think of all this advanced technology, and then it's like, okay, well, why isn't this in color? We have all of these other things, you know? So that's a really interesting observation. So was there a specific experience that really made you think that there has to be a better way to do this?

Sydney Olsen: It

Dr. Steven Poplaw:was really when I started doing procedures and I was wondering, like, why are these procedures so difficult? And when we're doing, like, ultrasound-guided biopsies and stuff, this is kind of comparable to the most basic video game. You're basically [00:03:00] taking a line, putting it into a circle, but the problem is it's hard to see your line.

Dr. Steven Poplaw:And if I could just share my screen, I'll show you exactly what I'm talking about.

Sydney Olsen: Yes.

Dr. Steven Poplaw:Radiology, we deal with a lot of imaging, so I think it's easier to see. So once again, my project is SmartColor AI, and just kind of an overview of it, it involves enhancing imaging, procedures, robotic surgery, and stents.

Dr. Steven Poplaw: So again, when I would watch my kid, he would play this game MLB and everything's in color, super detailed. Like, you could see people's shoes, the stripes on their shoes, but then when you look at, like, an image-guided procedure in ultrasound, you're looking at a bunch of gray lines. Like, you can barely see anything, and I just wondered-

Sydney Olsen: Yeah, like to me, that looks like a, a crinkled up piece of paper.

Dr. Steven Poplaw:Yeah.

Sydney Olsen: Yeah.

Dr. Steven Poplaw:And this is state-of-the-art, 2026 ultrasound guided procedures. So I'm [00:04:00] just wondering, like, why is it my kid is 20 years ahead of me and I'm taking care of people and making sure they get healthy? So that kind of threw me off and I'm, like, wondering, okay, why don't we do this better? Why are the kids way more advanced?

Sydney Olsen: Yeah, for sure.

Dr. Steven Poplaw: So here's kind of an example of a, a lymph node biopsy I was doing, and basically this was a patient who had a history of cancer, and then they had enlarged lymph nodes kind of in their armpit area. So I was doing an ultrasound-guided biopsy about six months ago, and I could barely see my device, and I was just concerned.

Dr. Steven Poplaw:I'm like, "Okay, am I gonna injure the patient? Am I gonna get a good biopsy sample?" And I feel that once you add AI machine learning and you colorize it, all of a sudden even a layperson or a kid could tell me where my device is. So here's the standard of care, and then once you add [00:05:00] color, anybody could see, okay, here's my device.

Sydney Olsen: Wow. Yeah. That's a huge difference, for sure.

Dr. Steven Poplaw: So that was a big push for me. Like, why aren't we using, like, more advanced technology to kinda care for patients better?

Sydney Olsen: Yeah, definitely. How does color help physicians more easily understand what they are seeing?

Dr. Steven Poplaw: I believe that adding color using AI and machine learning improves the visibility of the devices, but it also gives real-time feedback to the clinician.

Dr. Steven Poplaw: So here's an example of an ultrasound-guided biopsy that I was showing earlier where you could barely see your device. So once you add AI machine learning with colorization, you get an image where anybody could easily see their device, making biopsies safer, more effective. And I just wanted to kind of show a short video, which was my proof of [00:06:00]concept So here's a, uh, computer programmer, Mahir.

Dr. Steven Poplaw: So he was showing how we use this technology on, initially on a phantom, showing how the technology works. So he's pushing in an introducer, which is kind of a placeholder for biopsies, and normally this is all grayscale. So using our software in real time, we're colorizing it.

Sydney Olsen: Yeah. So could you kind of walk us through what the physician might experience when using this technology?

Sydney Olsen:Obviously, they would see their instrument in color. How reactive is it, uh, to, you know, micro movements, that kind of thing?

Dr. Steven Poplaw: So the main thing is it- it's gonna be... It's real time. So within milliseconds, an image is converted into a color image using AI, so there's no real lag time. [00:07:00] So the physician is pretty much gonna see exactly their device in color real time, and it's very intuitive, and it's great kind of like visual feedback for the physician.

Sydney Olsen: Yeah, definitely. That's awesome. So how would you describe this technology to someone with very little medical or technical background?

Dr. Steven Poplaw: So I think a great way of explaining it would be really looking at TVs. In the 1960s, people watched black and white television. It was low resolution, low detail, and kind of I feel like we're stuck in the 1960s with image-guided procedures.

Dr. Steven Poplaw: So my point of view is why aren't we in color using AI machine learning just to bring these procedures up to a level where it's better patient care and using technology at, at its fullest? [00:08:00]

Sydney Olsen: Yeah. That's a great visual as well, um, you know, when you're thinking about just the vast difference that just even adding color makes to something like this.

Sydney Olsen: So that's really awesome. So what has the process of turning this idea into a real technology been like?

Dr. Steven Poplaw:Well, it's been very challenging. So pretty much I'm a radiologist in private practice, so I end up reading, like, 25,000 cases a year. So I work, like, 10 to 12 hours a day, plus I'm on call. So I think doing a med tech project in addition to that is really a lot to do.

Dr. Steven Poplaw:And then, uh, doing med tech, you go beyond, like, practical medicine. So you have to learn about, like, the legalities, the business part, uh, fundraising. So it's actually a really, a lot to do for a single person.

Sydney Olsen: Yes,

Dr. Steven Poplaw:definitely. So it's definitely challenging.

Sydney Olsen: Yeah, for sure. What has been the [00:09:00] biggest technical or practical challenge that you've found?

Dr. Steven Poplaw: So the, the biggest practical challenge was finding, like, people to collaborate with. So I think a lot of times, I think they get thrown off when a physician actually approaches them with an idea better than what they have. So for example, like Mass General, I approached them. They thought it was a great idea, but then they wanted me to partner up with a larger corporation like a GE and plus have a lot of funding available so they could do the project.

Dr. Steven Poplaw:And I think a lot of people, once again, are thrown off when someone who's in private practice comes up with an idea that a large corporation didn't think about.

Sydney Olsen: Yeah, for sure, and I think that's really important too because, you know, you're the one who is hands-on in the field. You're interacting with patients and, you know, operations on the daily.

Sydney Olsen: So really, it, it ma- [00:10:00] honestly makes sense to me that you came up with this because you're hands-on, you're in the field, um- I

Dr. Steven Poplaw:think, yeah, that's the benefit. I think we're hands-on, we're on the front line, so we could see what could really help and where the need is So here's an example from like cardiac catheterization.

Dr. Steven Poplaw: So this is what we call fluoroscopy, which is an X-ray where they're gonna do procedures where they could put a stent in, and if you see that the current technology, everything's black and white, gray scale. So the problem is a lot of times your devices kind of get blended in with the background anatomy.

Dr. Steven Poplaw: So using AI and machine learning, so you could-- This was one of my, my last family of patents where you have a stent that changes color using AI based on the st- the state of the stent. So when the stent is not deployed yet, it's gonna look red, and as they deploy it, it's gonna change color in real time till [00:11:00] eventually it's green, and that will show that the stent is in the correct position.

Dr. Steven Poplaw:And then with my, uh, patents, the way it's gonna function is that it's gonna be software-based. It's gonna be an application that you add on to current hardware. So I think that's kind of the strength of the patents, that you don't have to change your hardware at all. It's gonna be an add-on. So in the future, the same way that here's an image of an ultrasound control panel.

Dr. Steven Poplaw:You have power control, color Doppler. You're gonna have a button for smart color AI, where instead of having a procedure where it's grayscale, you'll be able to have colorization where you could see your device better. And then in terms of surgery, like the state-of-the-art currently is Intuitive Surgical.

Dr. Steven Poplaw:They have what's called haptic feedback, and haptic [00:12:00]feedback is that you'll feel it in your fingers while you're doing surgery. So the current field of view for surgery, everything's the same color, kind of metallic, things blend in with each other, and even the VP of design for Intuitive says, "Wouldn't it be great to have additional information when you're doing surgery?"

Dr. Steven Poplaw: So with my patent, it involves AI to colorize surgical instruments based on the state of the instrument. So when you're a surgeon and you're pulling on tissue, if the force is within normal limits, it's gonna look green. But as you increase the force, it's gonna change color, and once it hits red, it really tells the surgeon in real time maybe they shouldn't pull that hard 'cause they're gonna injure the patient.

Dr. Steven Poplaw:The second family of patents where it's really looks at the state of the surgical instrument, and this could apply for forceps, for cautery devices or scissors.

Sydney Olsen: Wow, that's really awesome. So it's not [00:13:00]only color, it's also that feedback. I think that's really, really valuable for sure. So your portfolio covers both ultrasound and robotic surgery.

Sydney Olsen: How are those two applications connected?

Dr. Steven Poplaw:The main connection is that using AI and machine learning, it's not just colorizing the devices, it really improves the visibility, and it's giving real-time feedback. And just for the ultrasound patents, the applications are numerous. For me, like general radiology for biopsies, especially breast cancer diagnosis, it would be very helpful.

Dr. Steven Poplaw: It would be great for interventional radiology, cardiology for vascular access. A very large area would be anesthesiology and pain management. Right now, we m- we're moving away from opioids, so for regional anesthesia, for trauma patients, for major surgery, and also for pain management. And future applications involve, like, endoscopic [00:14:00]ultrasound-guided procedures for GI, pulmonary urology.

Dr. Steven Poplaw: So all ultrasound-guided procedures would benefit. And if you look at, like, this is a, a view you would see when you're doing robotic surgeries. So in the future, using AI, we're gonna colorize these surgical instruments, so as a surgeon, you're gonna be able to see them better and you're gonna see them change color and kind of come alive based on whether they're open, closed, turned on or off.

Dr. Steven Poplaw:Here's kind of a stent. So in the future, when you're putting a stent in a patient, it's not gonna be some gray shadow. It's gonna be green, telling you that you're in the right position and it's fully deployed. And just one last set of applications for my patents. This is also gonna apply to general radiology.

Dr. Steven Poplaw: So in the future when we have a patient in the ICU and they have all these tubes in place, [00:15:00] the tubes are gonna be in color so that as a radiologist or a healthcare worker, you could look at it, know that the tubes are in good position, and that the patient is safe. And one last image. This is from an ERCP from a gastroenterologist.

Dr. Steven Poplaw: So once again, in the future, instead of seeing gray devices mix in with anatomy, you're gonna see everything in color where it's eas- easy to see and safer for the patient.

Sydney Olsen: So ultimately, what difference do you hope that this technology will make for physicians and their patients?

Dr. Steven Poplaw:Well, number one, there's a large shortage of physicians in the US, and the shortage is just becoming worse. So how do we make procedures easier, safer, and how do we shorten the learning curve? So I think from a physician's point of view, I think it's important to make these procedures [00:16:00] easier so that more people can do them, and ultimately, why not have, why not have more caregivers be able to perform these procedures safely?

Dr. Steven Poplaw: So by colorizing it using AI machine learning, you could do that. And from a patient perspective, I think faster, safer procedures will lead to better outcomes, better patient care.

Sydney Olsen: Yeah. That's really amazing. So what are you hoping that the next chapter looks like for this technology?

Dr. Steven Poplaw:Well, my plan is to partner up with the major industry leaders in ultrasound, fluoroscopy, robotics, and develop it in partnership with them so that we could make this technology a reality and help patients sooner.

Dr. Steven Poplaw: So I would love to partner up with GE, Siemens, Intuitive Surgical, and really bring these patents to life

Sydney Olsen: Yeah, but [00:17:00] that's amazing. So if the right organization is listening, what do you most want them to understand about this opportunity?

Dr. Steven Poplaw:Well, I think it's gonna be the future of image-guided procedures. I think it would be a great opportunity for them to develop it and be the leaders in image guidance for procedures.

Sydney Olsen: That's awesome. What advice would you give other medical professionals who recognize a problem and have an idea for solving it?

Dr. Steven Poplaw: I think we have a big adv- advantage being on the front lines of healthcare, and we could see where we could do better, what needs to be improved. So my advice would be to just go for it, and, um, try and have a strong team with you.

Dr. Steven Poplaw:And if you think it's a great idea, be persistent, and you're gonna learn a lot because, uh, all of a sudden you're gonna be... have to learn about the legal system, [00:18:00] business, finance, and technology. So I think overall it's a great experience, especially for a young person.

Sydney Olsen: Yeah, definitely. All right, before we close, what is the one thing that you would like listeners to remember about your invention and its potential?

Dr. Steven Poplaw:Well, for my portfolio, I call it Smart Color AI. It's three open patent families. The first one is the colorization of medical devices under imaging. My initial focus was ultrasound guidance, especially for breast cancer. The second part of the family is the colorization of surgical instruments under robotic surgery, also based on the state of the instrument.

Dr. Steven Poplaw:And the last part of the family is the colorization of medical stents based on the state of the stent. I really believe that this is the future of image-guided procedures, and I hope to develop this and [00:19:00] help patients as soon as possible.

Sydney Olsen:Awesome. Well, Dr. Popla, thank you so much. It has been fascinating to hear how a challenge you encountered in medicine became this new, innovative way of thinking about medical imaging.

Sydney Olsen: To learn more about Smart Color Medical Imaging or to explore other patented technologies represented by Vibrant IP, you can visit vibrantip.com. If this conversation was valuable to you, follow the VIP podcast and share this episode with someone interested in medical innovation.