At the 2010 ACC conference held in Atlanta, GA, six new studies based on the PAT™ (Peripheral Arterial Tone) signal focused on assessing cardiovascular risk by measuring and improving endothelial health. Of those, two studies from Japan focused on assessing cardiovascular risk in both high and low risk patient populations.
A new study from Japan now shows that endothelial dysfunction, a critical factor in atherosclerotic buildup, can be reversed by life style changes. Japanese researchers from Yokohama City Medical Center examined a group of 168 obese people and found a greater prevalence of endothelial dysfunction in those with Metabolic Syndrome. After maintaining a proper diet and lifestyle regimen over 11 months, their EndoScore (the non-invasive score of endothelial function as measured by EndoPAT™ from Itamar-Medical Ltd.) improved significantly. During this period the patients also reduced their blood pressure, waist circumference and triglycerides. This confirms what cardiologist’s the world over have been claiming -- that lifestyle changes can reverse the natural progression of risk factors and improve endothelial function to prevent a full blown disease.
Another abstract from the same group demonstrated that advanced endothelial dysfunction significantly correlates to the complexity of coronary plaque observed in patients with Coronary Artery Disease (CAD). Monitoring of endothelial dysfunction was performed non-invasively by Itamar-Medical’s EndoPAT device. Results were obtained from tests performed on 240 patients and showed that a low EndoScore significantly predicted coronary plaque complexity in both high-risk and CAD patients. Moreover, high-risk patients with a severe EndoScore might be well served by applying aggressive and intensive treatments to improve prognosis.
Itamar-Medical is the developer of EndoPAT, which diagnoses endothelial dysfunction - an important state in the development and progress of atherosclerosis affecting both early and late stage of the disease. There are hundreds of EndoPAT systems in use around the world in top clinical and research institutions diagnosing cardiovascular disease in its very early stages and advancing both the understanding of cardiovascular disease and related drug development in top pharmaceutical companies.
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