SEATTLE, WASHINGTON--(Marketwired - April 15, 2014) - Ventripoint Diagnostics Ltd. ("Ventripoint") (TSX VENTURE:VPT) announces that the Montefiore-Einstein Center for Heart and Vascular Care in the Bronx, New York City has received approval to conduct a re-admission study in patients with heart failure to determine if the quantitative assessment of right-heart function using the Ventripoint VMS™ Heart Analysis System would enable cardiologists to identify those patients most likely to return and be re-admitted within 30 days. Dr. Mario Garcia and Dr. Ileana Piña are leading the study.
"We are pleased to initiate this study to look for better ways to assess right heart function. The VMS™ is a simple rapid technique, which uses conventional 2D echocardiographic data to obtain accurate functional information and should be prognostic in this patient population," stated Dr. Garcia, Chief of Cardiology at Montefiore.
The average cardiac re-admission rate within 30 days in the United States is 26%. It is estimated that 48% of people with heart failure have significant right-heart involvement. Routinely, the right heart is subjectively assessed with echocardiography but reliable functional information is not obtained.
"We are facing a new paradigm in healthcare today," says Dr. Piña, "We see an explosion of risk factors for heart disease, coupled with a demand to practice evidence-based medicine and to lower costs."
This re-admission rate puts an extra burden on the healthcare system and the Affordable Care Act uses the re-admission rate to penalize hospital by clawing back 1-3% of total billings for those hospitals with higher than acceptable re-admission rates. Last year, U.S. hospitals lost $225 million in re-imbursements due to unacceptably high re-admission rates.
"We will immediately install two VMS™ heart analysis systems at Montefiore Hospital and begin recruitment," stated Dr. George Adams, CEO of Ventripoint. "We would expect to have interim data midsummer and will initiate additional clinical sites based upon this information."
The VMS™ is approved for clinical use for selected indications in Canada, Europe and the United States.
About Montefiore Hospital
Montefiore Medical Center is a 1,418-bed general medical and surgical facility in the Bronx, New York. It ranked among the top hospitals nationally in Cardiology and Heart Surgery, Diabetes and Endocrinology, and Neurology and Neurosurgery in U.S. News & World Report's "America's Best Hospitals" 2013-2014 survey. Through its enduring partnership with Albert Einstein College of Medicine, it combines clinical care with research to deliver the most current treatments available.
About Dr. Mario Garcia
Mario Garcia, MD, is Chief of the Division of Cardiology and Co-Director, of the Montefiore Einstein Center for Heart and Vascular Care. Dr. Garcia is an internationally known leader in the development and clinical advancement of cardiac diagnostic technology, including cardiac CT, echocardiography and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging. Dr. Garcia is board-certified in cardiovascular medicine, internal medicine and echocardiography.
About Dr. Ileana Piña
Ileana Piña, MD, MPH, is a nationally renowned cardiologist known for her work in heart failure and development of multidisciplinary clinical interventions to improve patient rehabilitation outcomes. Dr. Piña serves as advisor/consultant to the FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health and their section of Epidemiology. She is also consultant to Novartis Pharmaceuticals and GE HealthCare. She is the author/co-author of over 100 publications in print, and a world-renowned speaker on heart failure management. Dr. Piña was on the writing committee of the new American Heart Association Guidelines for the Prevention of Heart Disease.
About Ventripoint Diagnostics Ltd.
Ventripoint has created tools to monitor patients with heart disease, a leading cause of death in developed countries. VMS™ is the first cost-effective and accurate tool for measuring right ventricle heart function. The Corporation has a suite of applications for all major heart diseases and imaging modalities including congenital heart disease, left or right heart failure and normal hearts -- a multi-billion dollar market potential.
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Contact Information:
CEO
(206) 910-9125
gadams@ventripoint.com