Good morning everyone. As promised in Wednesday afternoon's newsletter, we've got another trading idea for you today... one with a heap of upside potential as far as we're concerned. It comes from the medical-technology space, where a company's size is irrelevant - it's all about the performance of the product. In short, this company can effectively take a 3D picture of your entire heart, giving caregivers so much more information than a 2D image or even a series of 2D images can. The company in question is called Ventripoint Diagnostics (VPTDF, CVE:VPT). It's possible you've heard of it, though not likely; it's been laying low for a while. Be sure to put it on your radar/watchlist though. See, something happened in early March that quietly set the stage for what could be a very exciting 2017 for VPTDF shareholders. We'll concede right up front we're not going to be able to do Ventripoint's technology its due justice in the limited time and space we have in the newsletter. We'll hit the highlights, and refer you to the company's website for the details many of you biotech aficionados crave. It would be time well spent for any current or potential VentriPoint Diagnostics shareholders to visit the company's website, however, as it's got some amazing stuff going on. The Q&D explanation: Ventripoint Diagnostics makes the VMS-PLUS device, which can turn ultrasound scans -- usually limited to two-dimensional images -- into a three-dimensional virtual model of the heart. This model tells doctors so much more than most other approaches do. For those of you who are veterans of medical imaging technologies and their stocks, you'll already know why this is such a big deal. For everyone else (including me), the short backstory is in order. While an x-ray or conventional ultrasound image of a heart can be useful, a 2D view of the heart doesn't tell a doctor everything he or she may need to know. One of the missing pieces of information with a static 2D image of a heart is its volume capacity, or how much blood the heart is capable of pumping. The VMS-PLUS is not only capable of providing this information, it's just as good as an MRI is. In fact, VMS is the only 2D echocardiography approach certified as the equivalent to an MRI for the purpose of analyzing the right ventricle (the heart chamber scrutinized in volumetric diagnostics). Again, a handful of you veterans have already figured it out, though I had to have it spelled out for me. That is, while MRI's are effective at making an accurate map of the heart, they're also slow, and expensive. Ultrasound technologies, however, are fast and very economical to use. The comparative table below tells the shocking tale. One to two hours just to get a full MRI, versus five minutes for a VMS look at the heart? That's what they call a no-brainer. And just so there's no confusion, this isn't some theoretical technology that's going to be tied up forever in clinical trials. It's approved and on the market now. It's still new enough that most investors -- and possibly doctors -- have yet to hear about it, but it's old enough to know that it works. It's been approved in Europe, where Evelina Hospital and Great Ormond are just a couple of about a dozen hospitals in London using the hardware. It's been approved in the United States too, and is currently being used by the Seattle Children's Hospital and Montefiore Hospital in New York along with a handful of other locales. There's something else worth noting that's not on the table above. The VMS-PLUS tool is ultimately cheaper for caregivers to operate, as it cuts down on the time needed to create an image, and cuts down on the materials used in MRI imaging (like contrast dye). Like the table also explains, a VMS look can be completed with just one visit, as opposed to the two or three doctor's visits with a regular MRI... each one of which usually incurs an office visit fee. Almost needless to say, that's going to make the VMS-PLUS very popular with insurers as well as patients, who are finding their health insurance less and less generous. In fact, the device has a specific, approved billing code, meaning most reputable insurers should reimburse caregivers for its use without question. Oh, and the device itself works with all ultrasound systems, and is roughly the same size as your standard ultrasound system. That flexibility and portability will make it a hit with hospitals. With all of that being said, let's take a step back here and look at the VMS-PLUS through a more philosophical lens. Calling a spade a spade, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure... particularly in terms of paying for healthcare. The VMS-PLUS is a viable, affordable-to-use tool than can be used to spot potential cardiac problems before they become expensive, complicated issues. Prevention and successful diagnostics just might take a bite out of the $65 billion the world spends every year on treatments for cardiovascular disease. See, preventive care is about half the cost of post-problem care, per patient. It's all very exciting, to say the least. As we mentioned above, though, something happened in March that we don't think turned enough heads. For reasons I admittedly still don't fully understand, the only part of the heart of any interest when it comes to determining its volume-pumping potential is the right ventricle. There are still three other chambers to the heart though, and all together they paint a clearer picture of full heart health. Well, back on March 2nd, Ventripoint Diagnostics announced that Health Canada -- Canada's equivalent to the FDA -- had approved the VMS-PLUS to serve as a means diagnosing all four heart chambers. It's the first ultrasound system to earn such an approval. The company could go in a lot of directions with that green light. One example is helping cardiologists determine whether or not a patient would be a good fit for a pacemaker. It sounds crazy that we can't do any better than this, but only about a third of pacemaker implants make a positive improvement. Another third of them have no effect at all, and the other third of the time they make things worse. Doctors do them anyway because they don't always know what effect a pacemaker may have. When they don't work well though, most of the time it's because the left atrium and right atrium aren't functioning properly. Using a VMS-PLUS to take a volume measurement of all four chambers, surgeons can know whether or not a pacemaker will matter. That's just one way Ventripoint brings value to the table. Heart failure, valve disease, tetrology of fallot, pulmonary hypertension and d-TGV (post atrial switch) are all conditions the device can help detect. And with the huge swell baby-boomers now reaching ages that require a little extra cardiac care, the time is right for a technology like VMS-PLUS to thrive. While Health Canada was the first regulatory body to give the device the green light to look at all four heart chambers, it's unlikely to be the last. It looks like the company is prepping to make the four-chamber view available in the U.S. and China. In the meantime, the right-ventricle look using the VMS-PLUS is starting to get some significant traction, in North America and elsewhere. We can't help but wonder how much the cardiac sliver of the MRI market is about to be displaced. Our guess is, a lot. We probably don't even need to say it if you've been reading the newsletter for a while, but for those of you who are newcomers, we've got some caveats and disclaimers. First and foremost, never allocate more to one trade than you can afford to lose; along with these high-reward ideas comes high risk. Also, if you're getting into VPTDF (or into VPT, for you Canadian investors), it can't hurt to use a reasonable entry limit, just to keep someone else from yankin' your chain on the way in. Finally, if you do wade into Ventripoint Diagnostics waters, be sure to use a protective stop order. Anything can and eventually will happen. As we also always say though, you can't make any money from the sidelines. Ventripoint has a great technology that's gone mostly overlooked by the market. With the approval of the VMS-PLUS to look at all four heart chambers in Canada though -- and with similar approvals elsewhere likely in the foreseeable future -- 2017 could end up being a breakout year for the company and for the stock.