CardioNexus Corporation (www.cardionexus.com) an affiliated company of Panasonic Healthcare Co. Ltd., will introduce Panasonic CardioHealth® Station at the 2011 Annual Scientific Sessions of the American College of Cardiology. The device, which has just received clearance from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration, is an automated and portable cardiovascular imaging device which aims to complement traditional blood pressure and cholesterol measurement in physicians' offices and to help detect the hidden risk of heart attack and stroke.
“It takes us beyond the status quo and empowers internists and primary care physicians to use noninvasive imaging in their office.”
The FDA decision allows Houston-based CardioNexus to sell the CardioHealth® Station for use not only in hospitals and community clinics, but also in cardiologist, internist and family physician offices, as well as in retail healthcare clinics.
The device, which relies on Panasonic's advanced, high-resolution, real-time, ultrasound technology, measures the thickness of the arterial wall through the skin quickly and reproducibly. It is considered a major advancement in the automation of medical technologies which enable physicians, their assistants, and nurse practitioners who are not specialized in ultrasound imaging to use the device and detect High Risk patients.
"The CardioHealth® report which combines Framingham Risk Score with carotid IMT and plaque assessment provides a more accurate assessment of a patient's risk than measuring blood pressure and cholesterol alone," says Dr. Morteza Naghavi, President and CEO of CardioNexus Corporation. "It takes us beyond the status quo and empowers internists and primary care physicians to use noninvasive imaging in their office."
According to a 2010 study based on the American Heart Association's "Get With The Guidelines" initiative, only 23% of 136,905 patients hospitalized with coronary artery disease had high LDL, or "bad cholesterol" levels while 77% were reported to have normal LDL levels and therefore would not have been identified as High Risk.
The noninvasive imaging feature of CardioHealth® Station represents a breakthrough introduction into the primary healthcare market by the collaborative effort of CardioNexus and Panasonic Healthcare since their partnership was announced last October. Other features, such as Point-of-Care genetic testing for monitoring response to drug therapies, which collectively aim at Personalized Preventive Medicine will be introduced in the future.
"We've already seen tremendous interest in the technology, particularly among internists and primary care physicians who up until now have not had an automated non-invasive imaging technology in their office," says Steven Lynum, Director of Panasonic Healthcare's Clinical Products who is also an Executive Vice President at CardioNexus. "CardioHealth® Station allows them to easily incorporate atherosclerosis imaging in their management of cardiovascular patients based on the recent guidelines."
The CardioHealth Station includes a handheld ultrasound probe to scan the carotid arteries on both sides of the neck and to detect hidden plaque build up and increased thickness in the artery wall. Testing is performed in a matter of minutes without pain, discomfort or exposure to radiation; and the results are available immediately.
According to the American Heart Association there are over 60 million Americans at risk of a heart attack and in need of screening and preventive care.
"We are proud that Houston's CardioNexus in partnership with the world's largest consumer electronics manufacture, Panasonic Corporation, is introducing breakthrough medical technologies," said Leo Womack, a well known Houston life science investor who chairs CardioNexus' Board of Directors. "Texas needs more of these CardioNexus type initiatives."
SOURCE CardioNexus Corporation
Panasonic and KKR complete share purchase agreement