How I Invented the Mini C-Arm

By Larry Grossman, Inventor of the Mini C-arm Excerpted from Serial Entrepreneur, January 2010

In the spring of 1984 I ran across an article about a NASA invention named Low Intensity X-ray Imaging, which was referred to as LIXI technology. The inventors were two astrophysicists and a senior electrical engineer that worked for NASA at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and a physicist who worked for the National Institutes of Health in Washington, D.C. The lead scientist was Lo I. Yin. 

I asked the scientists to form a consulting group to help me create a new version of the technology. I wanted I wanted to invent a controllable power supply X-ray tube version of their LIXI technology to replace the radioactive isotope version. The invention also needed to include a high-voltage power supply and controllable X-ray tube source. This would better control the amount of radiation emitted during usage and eliminate Nuclear Regulatory Commission concerns with the radioactive isotopes. 

Making these important innovations would make it possible to image a greater variety of body parts. As its manufacturer, I would also have complete control over the further development of the new product. 

I convinced the scientist inventors of the original Lixiscope technology to join me in forming the QTR Consulting Group to help me create the X-ray tube version of LIXI technology. I agreed to pay them royalties for every unit sold. 

With an exclusive consulting agreement with the QTR Consulting Group in hand, I went to the lawyer in the NASA Technology Transfer Division and negotiated an exclusive license agreement for the X-ray tube version of the LIXI technology – the concept for which was entirely my invention. I would pay NASA an up-front fee and then royalties on every sale.

I also was able to convince the U.S. Department of Defense that potential customers would no longer need to fill out cumbersome paperwork anymore since the Chinese and Russians already had the basic technology. We agreed to submit a detailed monthly report instead, documenting the names and other pertinent information associated with each sale.

I named the new technology the Mini C-arm. It was a new term which was entirely of my own creation. 

I knew that my new invention would be a game-changer. Large C-arms existed for torso imaging. The Mini C-arm would be a much smaller unit, ideal for imaging extremities from the arms to the fingers and the knees to the toes.

The Mini C-arm produced 99% less radiaton than any other fluoroscopic device on the market. It would also eliminate the need for a radioactive isotope to produce the X-rays.

My new invention also made the isotope version of the Lixiscope obsolete. The NASA licensee of the radioisotope version (LIXI, Inc.) filed a lawsuit against my company and NASA jointly claiming that they should also have the right to use my new and greatly improved technology.

My company at the time, HealthMate, Inc., won the case, and I obtained an exclusive license for the technology from NASA for the life of the patent. With the assistance of QTR Consulting Group and NASA, I had just invented the concept for the Mini C-arm.

It was time to commercialize the technology, which is where proof of concept comes into play. Within three months, we had built a working prototype and filed for Food & Drug Administration (FDA) approval. Four months after filing our application, we received 510(k) acceptance from the FDA and the Mini C-arm became a reality.

Eventually, every hospital and surgery center in the world would need to own one or more Mini C-arms to be competitive. In addition to being the inventor of the Mini C-arm, I founded three Mini C-arm companies that revolutionized low-radiation imaging: HealthMate, Inc., Fluoroscan Imaging Systems, Inc., and Orthoscan, Inc.