Panasonic launches new CardioHealth Station software

Panasonic Healthcare Group today debuted new, enhanced software for the CardioHealth® Station at the American College of Cardiology's (ACC's) 61st Annual Scientific Session & Expo, ACC.12, being held March 24 though March 28 in Chicago.  The CardioHealth Station, Panasonic's flagship healthcare product, is designed to assist medical professionals in making a quick and valuable assessment of cardiovascular health and has been cleared by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in the automated acquisition of carotid intima-media thickness data and risk assessment.  The CardioHealth® Station and new software will be on display and demonstrated at Panasonic booth # 18075.

The CardioHealth Station has a built-in portable ultrasound system optimized to perform non-invasive examinations 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 in B-mode imaging. The touchscreen keyboard allows the user to input various parameters related to traditional cardiovascular risk factors and a built-in calculator provides risk scores (Framingham Risk Score, PROCAM Health Check Score, Reynolds Risk Score, risk score based on the SCORE project) commonly used in a variety of medical environments.  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 enhanced CardioHealth Station software being debuted at ACC.12 allows technicians to optimize workflow, and was created based on customer feedback from the 2011 software version. The new CardioHealth Station software also allows for a more robust acquisition of plaque detection in carotid arteries.  The combination of B-Mode and Color Flow Mode allows technicians to more fully distinguish between plaque-mimicking motion artifacts and the actual presence or absence of plaques.  Additionally the new software allows for multi-angle image acquisition and selects the image with the thickest build-up of the arterial Intima-Media Thickness (IMT).  Finally, the new software provides the ability to export reports to a network folder, helping to truly integrate the CardioHealth Station into a practice's electronic medical record, or in the case of larger institutions, DICOM storage system.

"We are eager to debut and demonstrate the CardioHealth Station's new software features to the medical community attending ACC.12.  We spent many years developing the foundation of this flagship product, and I am very happy to say we are raising the bar again as we incorporate even more requests of the medical community," said Steven Lynum, Director of Clinical Products, Panasonic Healthcare Group.  "The American Heart Association and the 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.  It is Panasonic's intention to work closely with the medical community to provide important diagnostic tools, such as the CardioHealth Station, to assist practitioners in achieving the goal of lowering healthcare costs through the early detection of disease."

"When Panasonic first introduced the CardioHealth® Station product at ACC 2011, I was truly pleased to see that a company was listening to the market needs and delivering a revolutionary new product to fit those needs," said S. Wayne Kay, the President and CEO of CardioNexus Corporation.  "Now, Panasonic is implementing truly meaningful software optimizations that further perfect the CardioHealth Station for practitioners of Personalized Preventive Medicine, at ACC 2012.  Over the past year, thousands of people have been screened with this device, and I believe using the latest guidelines, screening these asymptomatic intermediate risk patients, based on the guidelines, finding an unsuspected plaque, has really helped save lives."