LAS VEGAS, Nov. 11, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Panasonic
Healthcare Group and United Cardio Systems announced today that it
has formed an alliance with Cenegenics Medical Institute to
implement some of the latest technologies to support early heart
disease detection and age management. Panasonic's CardioHealth®
Station continues to get the attention of medical professionals who
recognize that one of the best ways to reduce long-term healthcare
costs is by applying technology to detect disease at an early
stage. The CardioHealth Station is designed to assist medical
professionals in making a quick and valuable assessment of
cardiovascular health and has been specifically cleared by the FDA
for use in the automated acquisition of carotid intima media
thickness, and risk assessment.
"Cenegenics' Age Management program will step up to the next
level with the incorporation of the Panasonic CardioHealth
Station," said John Adams, CEO of
Cenegenics. "As a distributor of the CardioHealth Station, United
Cardio Systems has committed to supply us with their cardiovascular
risk assessment program which includes over $2 million dollars worth of the equipment and
consulting services, with the expectation for this to increase
twofold within twenty four months. This commitment proves the
tremendous success we have been experiencing with our age
management program and the overwhelming interest among the public
in taking preventative measures to ensure healthy aging, starting
with cardiovascular risk assessments which utilize the Panasonic
CardioHealth Station."
Recently published studies (ARIC & MESA)*1 have shown that
there is valuable information revealed in the assessment of
vascular health, and the risks of a cardiovascular event associated
with those assessments. The ARIC*2 study, a recent
multi-institution study, reveals that certain patients can be
reclassified by looking at the carotid-intima media thickness and
the presence of plaque build-up. Panasonic developed the
CardioHealth Station, a much needed device that will help doctors
quickly assess the thickness of the layer of fat in a patient's
carotid artery. The carotid artery is the blood vessel branch that
extends from the heart up the neck, and provides blood to the front
of the face and the brain. This assessment used to be difficult and
impractical to do on a widespread basis, but the CardioHealth
Station makes it easier with an innovative automation
technology.
The American Heart Association and American College of
Cardiology recently updated the guidelines for the screening of
asymptomatic patients with intermediate risk, creating awareness
for the necessity to reduce healthcare costs through
prevention.
"The recent Million Hearts national initiative from the Center
for Disease Control has helped shed light on two of the leading
causes of death in the United
States, heart disease and stroke," said Steven Lynum, Director-Clinical Products,
Panasonic Healthcare Group. "The efforts of medical professionals,
like those at Cenegenics, will help to contribute in the campaign's
initiative to prevent one million heart attacks and strokes over
the next five years and Panasonic is proud to play a part in this
national effort with our CardioHealth Station."
The CardioHealth Station has a built-in portable ultrasound
system optimized to perform a non-invasive examination of the
peripheral vessels. It provides an automated measurement of the
intima-media thickness (IMT) of peripheral arteries such as the
common carotid and allows the user to search for arterial plaques
using real-time B-mode imaging. The touchscreen keyboard allows the
user to input various parameters related to traditional
cardiovascular risk factors. A built in calculator provides risk
scores commonly used in a variety of medical environments
(Framingham Risk Score, PROCAM Health Check Score, Reynolds Risk
Score, Risk score based on the SCORE Project). This information is
supplemented with an IMT measurement of the artery to generate a
comprehensive report to aid a physician in assessing cardiovascular
risk.
"The Cenegenics relationship is just another example of how
Panasonic plans to take a leadership role in the field of
Personalized Preventive Medicine," said Joseph M. Taylor, Chairman and Chief Executive
Officer, Panasonic Corporation of North
America. "The CardioHealth Station is an innovative
example of how Panasonic is planning to work closely with the
medical community to provide the tools to assist practitioners in
achieving the goal of lowering healthcare costs through the early
detection of disease."
*1 Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) and the ongoing
Multiethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). Both studies are
sponsored by the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute. More
information about the ARIC study can be found at
http://www.cscc.unc.edu/aric/; more information about the MESA
study can be found at http://www.mesa-nhlbi.org
*2 ARIC study can be found at http://www.cscc.unc.edu/aric/
About Panasonic Corporation of North America
Based in Secaucus, NJ,
Panasonic Corporation of North
America provides a broad line of digital and other
electronics products for consumer, business and industrial use. The
company is the principal North American subsidiary of Osaka, Japan-based Panasonic Corporation
(NYSE: PC), and the hub of Panasonic's U.S. branding, marketing,
sales, service and R&D operations. Panasonic recently announced
that it will relocate its North American headquarters to
Newark, NJ in 2013 as part of is
plans to reduce the size of its carbon emissions footprint.
Information about Panasonic and its products is available at
www.panasonic.com and its Full HD 3D site at www.panasonic.com/3D.
Additional company information for journalists is also
available at www.panasonic.com/pressroom.
About the CardioHealth Trademark
CardioHealth is the registered trademark of CardioNexus
Corporation. Founded on January, 2009 in Houston Texas, CardioNexus focuses on early
detection of cardiovascular disease using an innovative
multi-modality approach. For more information, visit the company's
website at www.cardionexus.com.
About Cenegenics Medical Institute
Founded in 1997, Cenegenics is the world's largest age
management practice and the recognized leading authority in its
field. Affiliated with two medical schools, Cenegenics
currently has more than 20,000 patients, 2,000 of which are
physicians and their families, and 100 physician affiliates
nationwide. Cenegenics has 18 medical centers throughout
the United States. For more
information visit http://www.cenegenics.com
About United Cardio Systems
A Castle Rock, CO based company
that focuses on the prevention of disease by providing medical
professionals with the capital equipment and medical resources to
assist any practice in developing its own cardiovascular prevention
program.
SOURCE Panasonic Corporation of North
America