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Enhanced External Counterpulsation (EECP®) Deemed Safe and Effective in Treating Angina Patients with Aortic Stenosis |
March 5, 2013 - WESTBURY, NY VasoMedical, Inc. (“VasoMedical”) (OTC BB: VASO), a diversified medical technology company specializing in the design, manufacture and sale of medical devices for noninvasive cardiology – including Enhanced External Counterpulsation(EECP®) Therapy systems, the gold standard of ECP therapy, as well as ECG Holter and ambulatory blood pressure monitoring products – today announced the results of a new clinical study. This recent study found that using EECP® Therapy to treat angina patients with aortic stenosis (AS) is as safe and effective as treating angina patients without AS.
These recent findings are published in an article titled “The Safety and Efficacy of Enhanced External Counterpulsation as a Treatment for Angina in Patients with Aortic Stenosis,” which is co-authored by Dr. Debra Braverman and her colleagues at Jefferson Medical College and Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The study can be found in the February 2013 issue of Clinical Cardiology, the Journal of the American Society for Preventive Cardiology, as a highlighted story on the cover.
This study enrolled 43 angina patients with echocardiogram confirmed aortic stenosis (AS), and 43 age- and gender-matched patients without AS. All 86 patients had completed at least 35 sessions of one-hour EECP® Therapy treatments. The highlighted results reported both groups experienced similar clinical outcomes of improved Canadian Cardiovascular Society (CCS) Functional Angina Classification withover 80% of the patients in both groups demonstrating an improvement of at least one CCS angina classification. Additionally, study patients with and without AS experienced similar and marked improvements in diastolic augmentation, a hemodynamic measure of the effectiveness of EECP® therapy, as well as reduction in systolic blood pressure after EECP®, with no major adverse cardiac events reported throughout the EECP® treatment period.
"Approximately three percent of the U.S. population over 65 years of age suffers from AS. Unfortunately, some clinicians have reservations about using EECP® Therapy to treat this group of patients due to concerns involving the increased venous return that occurs during cuff inflation. They think that perhaps the inflation of the cuffs could possibly raise the filling pressure and consequently patients with AS having obstructive output valves might not be able to eject the increased volume of blood," remarked Dr. John CK Hui, chief technology officer at VasoMedical. He continued, "This study is extremely important in demonstrating the safety and effectiveness of EECP® Therapy in this group of patients, freeing clinicians from their concerns about referring and treating patients suffering from ischemic heart disease with comorbid AS."
For additional information, the full study can be found here.
About VasoMedical
VasoMedical, Inc. is a diversified medical technology company specializing in the manufacture and sale of medical devices and in the domestic sale of diagnostic imaging products. The Company's main proprietary products are EECP® Therapy systems, the gold standard of ECP treatment. The Company operates through three wholly owned subsidiaries: VasoSolutions, VasoMedical Global and VasoHealthcare. VasoSolutions manages and coordinates the design, manufacture and sales of EECP® Therapy systems, and other medical equipment operations; VasoMedical Global operates the Company's China-based subsidiaries; and VasoHealthcare is the operating subsidiary for the exclusive sales representation of GE Healthcare diagnostic imaging products in certain market segments. Additional information is available on the Company's website at www.vasomedical.com.
Except for historical information contained in this release, the matters discussed are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. When used in this release, words such as “anticipates”, “believes”, “could”, “estimates”, “expects”, “may”, “plans”, “potential” and “intends” and similar expressions, as they relate to the Company or its management, identify forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs of the Company's management, as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to the Company's management. Among the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially are the following: the effect of business and economic conditions; the effect of the dramatic changes taking place in the healthcare environment; the impact of competitive procedures and products and their pricing; medical insurance reimbursement policies; unexpected manufacturing or supplier problems; unforeseen difficulties and delays in the conduct of clinical trials and other product development programs; the actions of regulatory authorities and third-party payers in the United States and overseas; uncertainties about the acceptance of a novel therapeutic modality by the medical community; continuation of the GEHC agreement; and the risk factors reported from time to time in the Company's SEC reports. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements as a result of future events or developments.
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