L.A. companies develop high-tech medical devices; innovations range from test kits to nuclear medicines.

A treatment for AIDS, an early cancer detection device, a blood-testing mechanism and a way to read magnetic resonance images are among the new medical procedures and devices under study or development by Los Angeles County high-technology companies.

Other companies have designed and are selling computer software to help hospitals manage their costs and compare doctors' performances, are marketing ultrasound equipment used to detect medical problems, and are researching new blood-separating techniques.

Even though Los Angeles County isn't known as a center of private-sector medical research or technology development, there is a handful of companies that boast of working on new life-saving and cost-efficient devices or procedures.

One of the biggest high-tech medical companies in the county is Diagnostic Products Corp. in West Los Angeles, located near the Los Angeles International Airport. Diagnostic Products, with 1992 sales of $103 million, designs and makes test kits to detect diseases and drugs through body fluids. The devices are used to find specific diseases, or drugs, that are only detectable through traits found in the chemical or genetic makeup of certain body fluids.

Of the company's 450 employees, about 170 are involved in research and development, said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Sigi Ziering.

A primary research project of Diagnostic Products is development of a device that would detect a genetic predisposition to certain cancers, he said. The genetic characteristics, or "markers," which could signal a predisposition to future cancer growth, can be detected through analysis of small particles or parts of certain body fluids.

Like Diagnostic Products, most of the high-tech medical or health care companies in the Los Angeles area are involved in developing devices or procedures to detect illnesses or diseases.

One company, HemaCare Corp. in Sherman Oaks, develops devices that purify blood of disease-causing agents.

HemaCare is working on a new treatment for AIDS. The treatment includes the development of a blood plasma to help patients fight the disease, but would not be a cure for AIDS, said Hal Lieberman, president and chief executive officer of HemaCare.

"We are still in the testing phase that involves only California," he said. "We have not yet gone into the clinical trial period that would require any kind of federal licensing procedures. This process would obviously change our company. We would go from basically a service company to a pharmaceutical company."

HemaCare was formed in 1979 and, in 1992, had sales of $12.3 million.

If HemaCare succeeds in developing its AIDS treatment, it would be one of the few companies in the county that could accurately be called a drug manufacturer.

One local company that is involved in distributing drugs is Syncor International Corp., a Chatsworth-based concern that is probably the biggest high-tech medical or health-care products company in the county, in terms of annual revenues.

Syncor, with 1992 revenue of $230 million, makes and dispenses nuclear medicines to fight specific diseases or other physical problems. What happens in the pharmaceutical procedure is that medicines are exposed to certain forms of radiation to produce customized drugs. Nuclear medicines are often produced for one individual with a particular medical problem.

"The nuclear medicine market now is about $350 million," said Mary Meusborn, manager of investor relations for Syncor. "We have 65 percent of the market right now and, by 1996, the whole market is expected to grow to $796 million."

Like Diagnostic Products, International Remote Imaging Systems Inc. in Chatsworth also develops devices to detect diseases or other physical problems through body fluids. Its device is computerized and makes a diagnosis in 90 seconds, as opposed to between eight and 12 minutes for most other kinds of testing devices, said a spokesman for the company who did not want to be identified.

International Remote is now researching a new type of device that could be used in pap smears for women.