St. Jude Medical seals the deal with LightLab Imaging

St. Jude Medical Inc. (NYSE: STJ) said Tuesday that it completed its $90 million acquisition of LightLab Imaging Inc.

With the purchase, St. Jude, based in Little Canada, Minnesota, can enter the $500 million coronary imaging market with a new imaging technology ’ optical coherence tomography (OCT).

OCT uses near-infrared light to produce high-resolution, real-time images that are better and faster than images produced by competing ultrasound technology. LightLab said the resolution of its images are 10 times greater than those produced by intravascular ultrasound ’ and they are made 20 times faster. Ultrasound technology uses sound instead of light to produce images.

St. Jude Medical expects the OCT platform to boost the top line of its Medical Cardiovascular Division by $20 million during the second half of the year. The OCT market itself is expected to grow at a double-digit, compounded annual rate over the next five years, according to the Minnesota company.