Additional excellent news...
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Tuesday July 17, 8:15 am Eastern Time
Press Release
SOURCE: Hypertension Diagnostics, Inc.
Hypertension Diagnostics Says Its CVProfilor(TM) Product Launch is Meeting Company Expectations
Physicians Using HDI's Proprietary Technology Report Positive Clinical Experiences
ST. PAUL, Minn., July 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Hypertension Diagnostics, Inc. (Nasdaq: HDII; HDIIW; HDIIU; HDIIZ) announced today that its Phase I launch of the CVProfilor(TM) DO-2020 CardioVascular Profiling System continues to meet company expectations and that early comments from physicians who are using the medical device reinforce the market potential of the CVProfilor(TM).
``Our product launch continues to be in line with our expectations,'' said Greg H. Guettler, President. ``We are encouraged by the clinical applications which physicians have found for their use of the CVProfilor(TM) and their positive comments. Two physicians in particular, Dr. Carolyn Salafia and Dr. James O. Wells, are using our non-invasive technology as a new screening tool to assess and manage patients with cardiovascular disease,'' added Guettler.
Carolyn Salafia, M.D., M.S., Director of EarlyPath Clinical and Research Consultation Service in New York, former Professor of Pathology and Pediatrics at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, and an Adjunct Associate Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology at the New York University School of Medicine, is currently using the CVProfilor(TM) as a non-invasive cardiovascular disease assessment tool where she is screening women who have had complications in pregnancy associated with preeclampsia -- a condition including high blood pressure, albumin in the urine and edema of the face or hands during or immediately following pregnancy.
``We're using the CVProfilor(TM) on patients who have had prior complicated pregnancies and looking at their blood vessel elasticity in the mid-trimester as a means of predicting what their outcomes might be as far as recurrent preeclampsia, fetal growth and their tolerance of labor,'' said Dr. Salafia. ``Any tool that can help us identify who might be at risk for a hypertensive pregnancy would be a significant break-through in the medical management of this disease. We're also looking at patients in labor and delivery with anything ranging from those without symptoms of preeclampsia to those with a clear-cut diagnosis of preeclampsia and everyone in between. Our current methods of treating preeclampsia are too little and way too late,'' said Dr. Salafia. ``In a process that has been going on for weeks, if not months prior to symptoms, the clinical manifestation of this disease is an avalanche that has been brewing for some time. You can't stop the avalanche, but you could shore up the infrastructure if you knew it was coming,'' added Dr. Salafia.
``Basically, the CVProfilor(TM) gives us a low cost, non-invasive, easy-to-use screening tool that may directly measure a major parameter (that is, the elasticity of large and small arteries) that could be used to allow for earlier intervention in someone with a family history of cardiovascular disease. If a physician has a better understanding of who is going to have a problem, then he or she can take better care of them. It's that simple -- it is taking the guesswork out of a very dangerous problem,'' said Dr. Salafia. ``These pregnancies are debilitating to these women emotionally and physically. They cause divorce. The moms are terrified to have another baby. The children themselves may die early from low birth weight -- a major predictor of cardiovascular disease. This cardiovascular profiling device may give us a chance to help these patients and their babies live to see their grandchildren,'' added Dr. Salafia.
James O. Wells, M.D., a nephrologist and certified hypertension specialist located in Atlanta, Ga., is also using the CVProfilor(TM) in his practice where he examines and treats patients with hypertension and kidney disease. ``I think the most useful thing that I have found with the CVProfilor(TM) is that it gives patients a number. If the result is unfavorable, it establishes a goal for improvement; if the number is good, it puts some minds at ease. It also provides a cardiovascular profiling assessment that helps me measure the patient's status and formulate pharmacologic intervention,'' said Dr. Wells.
``The HOPE (Heart Outcomes Prevention Evaluation) study suggests that patients over age 55 with at least one cardiovascular risk factor should be given an ACE inhibitor (that is, a particular class of cardiovascular drug). I wonder if the HOPE study results would have been even more impressive if the CVProfilor(TM) had been used to select only those patients with reduced arterial compliance or elasticity for the study. If so, resources spent treating patients with normal arteries could have been saved. When I identify patients with reduced numbers on the CVProfile(TM) Report, I make an intensive search for the reason why. In nearly all cases, I have uncovered an obscure lipid abnormality, a strong family history, or a previously undisclosed history of smoking,'' said Dr. Wells.
``I think it is important to note that this device adds one more brick in the wall of disease assessment. A physician can plug this in as one very important piece of data in the puzzle and have a fairly clear picture of who is at risk. This is an exciting tool to include in the vascular workup of an individual. Most people who have heart attacks don't have bad cholesterol so you can't count on that measurement to identify individuals at risk. Cholesterol is a substance that can be very harmful to some patients, yet there are other people with high cholesterol who seem to live forever. With the CVProfilor(TM), I can get an assessment that measures the condition of the arteries. Nothing else does that. The biggest benefit is that this device gives the patient a measure of looking at themselves and saying: How do I improve this number? It's a very impressive response. I have been pleasantly surprised by that because the thing this device does more than anything else -- it motivates patients. It gets them involved in their therapy,'' Dr. Wells added.
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