By Travis E. Poling - Express-News

Seno Medical Instruments Inc. has received recognition from Frost & Sullivan as one of the top emerging medical companies in the nation. The San Antonio-based diagnostic firm is commercializing a new way to detect and to develop treatment for breast cancer and cardiovascular disease.

Market research firm Frost & Sullivan will present the 2009 North American Medical Imaging Emerging Company of the Year Award on March 18 in San Francisco.

"We had no idea we were even on their radar screen," said Janet Campbell, CEO of Seno. "It's a huge third-party endorsement ... and should give investors great confidence."

The opto-acoustic technology that uses a combination of light and sound for noninvasive medical diagnostics now is being sold to research institutions. Clinical trials at the University of Texas Health Science Center's Cancer Therapy and Research Center began in the fourth quarter of 2008 with 100 patients. Because the technology doesn't harm the subject and can show high-resolution images of activity at the subcellular level, Seno's technology "extends functional imaging capabilities beyond today's limitations," Frost & Sullivan analysts wrote.

The company has a license with VisualSonics, which is marketing the technology to use in testing small animals used in research, and Campbell says the company is working on several other possible license agreements.