Ugandan Children Receive Life-Saving Treatment For Heart Defects At Children's National Medical Center

Ugandan Children Receive Life-Saving Treatment For Heart Defects At Children's National Medical Center

Through partnership with Samaritan's Purse and Gift of Life, patients travel to United States **Media Note: Patients will be at Children's National for farewell visit on Tuesday, February 24**

Washington, DC --On February 12, two Ugandan children received life-saving procedures at Children's National Medical Center (http://www.childrensnational.org/?utm_source=pressrelease&utm_medium=2_23&utm_campaign=uganda) to correct severe heart defects. Without cardiac surgery, the young boys would likely have died before adulthood, but they now have a normal life expectancy.

As part of the Phase I of a global initiative to bring attention to the health needs of Ugandan children, 15-month-old Daniel Kamaramasu and 2 ½-year-old Allan Wassanyi traveled 5,000 miles to receive treatment unavailable at home. Daniel, who was born with a blocked valve between his heart and lungs, was successfully treated using a cardiac catheterization balloon procedure by Michael Slack, MD (http://www.childrensnational.org/FindADoctor/Doctor_Marqui.aspx?DocId=470&Name=Michael%20Slack?utm_source=pressrelease&utm_medium=2_23&utm_campaign=uganda). Allan, who had a very large hole in his heart, underwent successful open heart surgery by Richard Jonas, MD (http://www.childrensnational.org/FindADoctor/Doctor_Marqui.aspx?DocID=1195&Name=Richard%20Jonas?utm_source=pressrelease&utm_medium=2_23&utm_campaign=uganda).

The boys came to Children's National through a partnership with international relief organization Samaritan's Purse, Gift of Life International (GOLI), and other organizations. Through this partnership, pediatric cardiologist Craig Sable, MD (http://www.childrensnational.org/FindADoctor/Doctor_Marqui.aspx?DocId=424&Name=Craig%20Sable?utm_source=pressrelease&utm_medium=2_23&utm_campaign=uganda) has led seven medical missions to Uganda in an effort to provide treatment for patients and ultimately build a sustainable cardiac surgery program in Uganda. More than 100 children have received life-saving treatment since the program began in 2003.

"With the dedication of organizations like Samaritan's Purse and Gift of Life, patients from around the world have access to the expert pediatric care that is available to children in the United States," said Dr. Sable.

Added Cindy Bonsall, director of Samaritan's Purse's Children's Heart Project: "We're glad this partnership has enabled so many Ugandan children to receive the cardiac care they deserve. We're glad they will be returning home soon with a second chance at life."

A key component of the missions to Uganda has been training Ugandan surgeons. Through training provided by Dr. Sable and colleagues, Ugandan surgeons are now on the verge of doing simple cardiac procedures on their own. Dr. Sable directs the Telemedicine Program at Children's National, which provides training and educational opportunities around the world.

The groups have joined forces to implement "Our Hearts Are In Uganda," which will focus all of GOLI's efforts in Uganda. The first phase of the program included treatment for Daniel, Allan, and three other children at hospitals in the United States. The next phase will bring 25 more Ugandan children to hospitals throughout the world to receive life-saving treatment for heart defects.

"We have saved the lives of more than 10,000 children, and through this partnership, we hope to expand our reach, to ultimately create a program in Uganda to ensure that all the children have access to the medical care they need," said Lou del Rosario, vice chairman of GOL District 7230, who was instrumental in raising funds for Allan's operation.

MEDIA NOTE: The patients will be returning to Children's National for a farewell visit on Tuesday, February 24. The patients and Dr. Craig Sable will be available for interviews. Contact Emily Dammeyer or Jenn Leischer at 202-476-4500.

About Children's National Medical Center (http://www.childrensnational.org/about/?utm_source=pressrelease&utm_medium=2_23&utm_campaign=uganda)

Children's National Medical Center, located in Washington, DC, is a proven leader in the development of innovative new treatments for childhood illness and injury. Children's has been serving the nation's children for more than 135 years. Children's National is proudly ranked among the best pediatric hospitals in America by US News & World Report and the Leapfrog Group. For more information, visit www.childrensnational.org.

About Samaritan's Purse

Samaritan's Purse identifies children needing life-saving heart treatment through its' Children's Heart Project. The international relief organization identifies children overseas who need heart surgery, matches them with hospitals and specialists willing to donate their time and services, places them with a local host family, and arranges international travel and an interpreter. More than 550 children from nine countries have been brought to North America for medical and surgical care not available in their home countries.

About Gift of Life International

Gift of Life is a Rotary based program in more than 50 Rotary Clubs and Districts on 6 continents. GOLI aims to save as many children's lives as possible by providing life saving open heart surgery to children from infancy to 18 years of age with congenital heart defects. GOLI has been responsible for saving more than 10,000 lives during the past 33 years.

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Contact Information Emily Dammeyer

Children's National Medical Center

http://www.childrensnational.org

202-476-4500

iCardiac Reports Significant Revenue Growth and Profitability

iCardiac Reports Significant Revenue Growth and Profitability

iCardiac Continues to Successfully Leverage Differentiated Service and Product Offering

Rochester, New York (PRWEB) February 23, 2009 -- iCardiac Technologies, Inc., a leading innovator in advanced cardiac safety biomakers and automated QT analysis, today announced that the company has experienced significant revenue growth as its quarter over quarter revenues have grown in excess of 100%. Pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies continue to select iCardiac as a critical provider for their cardiac safety studies because of the company's scientific expertise, project management capabilities, as well as the industry's most advanced ECG analysis methodologies, which can both dramatically reduce the cost of cardiac safety studies in addition to reducing the likelihood of false-positives. Additionally, as iCardiac's revenues have continued to increase, the company achieved profitability in the last quarter of 2008.

iCardiac continues to advance the field of cardiac safety in Phase I, II, III as well as TQT studies through its end-to-end offering of cardiac safety analysis services. During 2009, iCardiac will aggressively continue to bring to market its Highly Automated QT(sm) and QT beat-to-beat offerings.

"To date our highly automated technology has been applied in over 10 clinical QT data analyses," said Sasha Latypova, Executive Vice President at iCardiac Technologies. "Pharmaceutical companies are gaining more accurate results and are substantially lowering the cost per Thorough QT study."

The drive to greater automation of the cardiac safety analysis process stems from general dissatisfaction in the industry regarding "gold standard" manual measurements that are both time-consuming and expensive. iCardiac's highly automated QT technology is different from "fully automated" approaches - which are based solely on computers - because it combines advanced ECG signal processing algorithms, developed over the past decade, with a robust quality assurance process conducted by cardiologists.

The technology performs a precise automated QT measurement and, using sophisticated statistical models and algorithms, guides cardiologists to those ECGs that require attention. It produces significant cost savings because only a portion of the entire Thorough QT dataset requires manual over-reading.

Highly Automated QT analysis is part of iCardiac's software platform COMPAS 3.0, originally developed at the University of Rochester Heart Research Follow-Up Program, the international leader in electrophysiology research and the study of the congenital Long QT Syndrome. The platform provides comprehensive analysis of cardiac repolarization signals and contains several advanced arrhythmia biomarkers, as well as advanced ECG signal processing tools. COMPAS serves as the core technology behind the leading cardiac safety analysis services that iCardiac provides to pharmaceutical, biotech companies and clinical research organizations.

About iCardiac Technologies

iCardiac Technonogies, Inc. is a technologically differentiated cardiac core lab providing expert scientific consultation, end-to-end project management, statistical analysis and the industry's most sophisticated FDA-accepted cardiac safety assessment methodologies. iCardiac's analysis service provides drug developers with more precise and cost-effective methods for QT interval measurement, including Highly Automated QT, which has been validated by pharmaceutical companies and accepted by the FDA as equivalent to the manual evaluation of ECGs in Thorough QT studies. In addition, iCardiac provides Beyond QT, a suite of advanced ECG-based cardiac safety markers that have been accepted as secondary end-points by the regulators, and deliver a more accurate assessment of the cardiac safety profile of drugs in development. iCardiac's COMPAS technology has been used for over a decade in cardiac clinical trials conducted for and by leading large and medium sized pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device companies. For more information, visit: www.icardiac.com.

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Contact Information Sasha Latypova

iCardiac Technologies, Inc.

http://www.icardiac.com

585-295-7610 (103)

Global Ventricular Assist Devices Market to reach $1.2 Billion by 2014, According to New Report by Global Industry Analysts, Inc.

Global Ventricular Assist Devices Market to reach $1.2 Billion by 2014, According to New Report by Global Industry Analysts, Inc.

Driven by enhanced focus on development of next generation devices, and widening demand and supply gap for heart transplantation, the global market for ventricular assist devices is projected to exceed $1.2 billion by 2014.

San Jose, CA (PRWEB) February 19, 2009 -- Globally, about one million people suffer from end-stage heart failure. With demand for heart transplantation, the traditional procedure for end-stage heart failure, surpassing the availability of donor hearts, use of ventricular assist devices (VADs) has emerged as an ideal alternative form of treatment for such patients. Development of VADs with improved design, features and durability is expected to expand its adoption across a broader patient population, including women and children.

Besides, the arrival of second generation and third generation VADs has expanded the scope of using destination therapy as an early intervention measure in the treatment of heart failure, thereby offering hope to several heart failure patients. Destination Therapy holds vast potential in the overall ventricular assist devices (VAD) (http://www.strategyr.com/Ventricular_Assist_Devices_Market_Report.asp) market, driven primarily by the benefits of procedure when compared to conventional heart transplantations. Further, the procedure holds promise owing to its use among patients who are otherwise ineligible for donor hearts due to old age or severe sickness.

United States represents the largest market for VADs, as stated in a recent report by Global Industry Analysts, Inc. A major driver for the use of VADs in United States is the recommendation by various medical associations for using alternative therapies (including VADs) in the treatment of advanced stage cardiac failure patients. The adoption of VADs is also affected by factors such as cost of device, competition from drug industry, reimbursement levels, and time period for gaining FDA approvals.

Thoratec Corporation is the predominant player with about 50% share of the global VAD market. Other key players operating in the market include Abiomed Inc., Berlin Heart GmbH, EvaHeart Medical USA Inc., Jarvik Heart Inc., MicroMed Cardiovascular Inc., SynCardia Systems Inc., Terumo Heart Inc., Ventracor Limited, and World Heart Corporation.

The report titled "Ventricular Assist Devices: A Global Strategic Business Report" published by Global Industry Analysts, Inc., provides a review of market dynamics, trends, issues, and competition pertaining to the market. The report enumerates recent product introductions/innovations, developments, mergers, acquisitions and other strategic industry activities. Analysis is presented for the period 2005-2015 for United States, Europe, and Rest of World.

For more details about this research report, please visit

http://www.strategyr.com/Ventricular_Assist_Devices_Market_Report.asp

About Global Industry Analysts, Inc.

Global Industry Analysts, Inc., (GIA) (http://www.strategyr.com) is a reputed publisher of off-the-shelf market research. Founded in 1987, the company is globally recognized as one of the world's largest market research publishers. The company employs more than 700 people worldwide and publishes more than 880 full-scale research reports each year. Additionally, the company also offers a range of more than 60,000 smaller research products including company reports, market trend reports and industry reports encompassing all major industries worldwide.

Global Industry Analysts, Inc.

Telephone 408-528-9966

Fax 408-528-9977

Web Site http://www.StrategyR.com

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Contact Information Public Relations

Global Industry Analysts, Inc.

http://www.StrategyR.com/

(408) 528-9966

Landmark Trial Provides Vital Information for Cardiac Disease Treatment

Landmark Trial Provides Vital Information for Cardiac Disease Treatment

NorthShore University HealthSystem Ted Feldman, M.D., Lead Investigator

Evanston, IL. -- NorthShore University HealthSystem (http://www.northshore.org/) (NorthShore) has played a leading role in a landmark clinical trial comparing two forms of treatment for patients with severe coronary artery disease (CAD). The results were published on-line in this week's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

The SYNTAX trial was a clinical research study that compared percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with drug-eluting stents and coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG) in patients with three-vessel and left main coronary disease. The trial results did not show any statistically significant differences between PCI and CABG in rates of death or heart attack, an excess of stroke in the CABG treated patients, and a greater need for repeat PCI procedures in the stent treated patients. These are better outcomes for PCI than have been seen in prior trials in less complex patients.

"At NorthShore, we experienced stunning outcomes in patients whose only option would have previously been bypass surgery," said Ted Feldman, M.D, F.S.C.A.I., Director of Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory, NorthShore University HealthSystem, and a lead investigator of the trial. "The data in this study will provide cardiologists with additional information as they determine treatment therapy for patients with complex CAD."

The trial is the first randomized, controlled clinical trial to compare these two treatments in patients with left main disease and/or three-vessel disease, who are typically treated with CABG and represent a population with far more complex anatomy and advanced disease than those studied in prior drug-eluting stent (DES) clinical trials.

There were 1,800 patients enrolled in the randomized arm of the trial. All patients were assessed by a multidisciplinary team including an interventional cardiologist and a cardiac surgeon. If both the cardiologist and surgeon felt that they could offer equivalent complete revascularization, patients were randomized 1:1 into one of the two treatment strategies. If either the cardiologist or surgeon felt that one or the other revascularization technique was the preferred option, due to technical considerations or co-morbidity, for example, then patients were recruited into one of two parallel, nested registries for PCI or CABG. Thus, patients in the PCI registry had been rejected for cardiac surgery.

About NorthShore University HealthSystem

Headquartered in Evanston, Ill., NorthShore University HealthSystem (NorthShore) is a comprehensive, fully integrated, healthcare delivery system that serves the greater North Shore and northern Illinois communities. The system includes three Hospitals--Evanston Hospital, Glenbrook Hospital and Highland Park Hospital--and a fourth, Skokie-based Rush North Shore Hospital, to be added in January 2009. In addition, the healthsystem has more than 2,000 affiliated physicians, including a 550-physician, multispecialty physician group practice with over 70 office locations-- NorthShore University HealthSystem Medical Group. Further, NorthShore is committed to excellence in its academic mission and supports teaching and research as the principal teaching affiliate of the University of Chicago's Pritzker School of Medicine. The NorthShore University HealthSystem Research Institute, with more than $100 million of grants, focuses on clinical and translational research, including leadership in outcomes research and clinical trials.

NorthShore has annual revenues of $1.5 billion and a staff of more than 8,000. The healthsystem has significant capabilities in a wide spectrum of clinical programs, including cancer, heart, orthopaedics, high-risk maternity and pediatrics. NorthShore is a national leader in the implementation of innovative technologies, including electronic medical records, (EMR ). In 2003, the healthsystem was among the first in the country to successfully launch a systemwide EMR with demonstrable benefits in quality, safety, efficiency and service to patients. NorthShore has been recognized by multiple national organizations for this notable achievement. Visit http://www.northshore.org/

CONTACT: Amy Ferguson

Senior Director, Public Relations

NorthShore University HealthSystem

(847) 570-3146

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Contact Information Amy Ferguson

Northshore University HealthSystem

http://www.northshore.org/

847-570-3146