FAIRFIELD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 8, 2003--Heart disease affects 60 million Americans, and according to the American Heart Association, is the number one killer of men and women in this country.
May is National High Blood Pressure Education Month. Not only is high blood pressure common - more than 50 million American adults (one in four) have high blood pressure - it's also a key factor in increasing one's chances of getting heart disease or suffering a heart attack. It is especially dangerous because there are often no warning signs or symptoms. Regardless of race, age or gender, anyone can develop high blood pressure.
Recent data from the Framingham Heart Study found that as a person's blood pressure rises above the optimal level of 120/80 mmHg, the risk of suffering a stroke, a heart attack, or heart failure increases. Even study participants with a high-normal blood pressure of 130/85 had 1.5 to 2.5 times greater risk in 10 years than those with optimal blood pressure--the higher the pressure, the greater the risk.
Another common medical issue is chest pain. Of the more than five million patients who visit emergency departments with chest pain each year, only about 40 percent can be immediately diagnosed with a heart attack using standard tests. The majority of patients must undergo a number of tests and further hospitalization for a conclusive diagnosis to be reached. Cardiologists require more accurate and cost-effective means to detect problems and evaluate their patients.
Here are some recent technology developments from GE contributing to the fight against heart disease:
New Method to Predict Coronary Disease Events
Conventional risk factors only predict about one half of all heart attacks. These risk factors include family history, abnormal cholesterol, obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking, and lack of exercise.
Alan D. Guerci, M.D., president & chief executive officer of St. Francis Hospital in Roslyn, NY, recently conducted a study of more than 5,000 people during a period of several years. The St. Francis Hospital Study concludes that Electron Beam Tomography(TM) (EBT(TM)) scoring of coronary calcification is more accurate than conventional risk factor assessment in the prediction of coronary disease events. The study, performed using a GE Medical Systems' EBT scanner, was presented as a late-breaking clinical trial at the American College of Cardiology's 52nd Annual Scientific Session in Chicago in early April 2003.
The study demonstrates that people with a calcium score greater than 100 were at 10 times more risk than those scoring less than this threshold.
Electron Beam Tomography provides a simple, noninvasive scan for calcification and takes less than 30 seconds. The exam is generally administered to middle-aged men and women having one or more standard risk factors for heart disease.
Who May be at Risk of Sudden Cardiac Death?
According to the American Heart Association, sudden cardiac death is a major health condition that has received much less attention than heart attacks. The condition refers to death resulting from an abrupt loss of heart function in people who may or may not have been diagnosed with heart disease.
Results of recent clinical trials indicate that heart attack survivors whose left side of the heart functions 30 percent less efficiently than a "normal" heart have a much higher risk of sudden cardiac death. For these patients, doctors typically prescribe an implantable defibrillator, which helps to regulate the amount of blood being pumped through the body.
Previously the only methods for detecting electrical instability in a patient's heart (or microvolt T-Wave Alternans (T-WA)) were costly and required special testing protocols. Doctors now have a noninvasive method for diagnosing patients, which could reduce the risk and costs of potentially unnecessary procedures. GE's T-WA Analysis Program lets doctors screen in a noninvasive and cost-effective manner using a software option on GE exercise testing systems. Doctors can now identify certain "at risk" heart patients without subjecting them to expensive or uncomfortable procedures.
The exercise test allows for the detection of T-WA at relatively low heart rates in short exercise intervals. This is significant because patients with an inefficiently pumping heart have difficulty elevating their heart rates for long periods of time which is a strong indication that they are at risk for sudden cardiac death.
"Seeing" Cardiovascular Disease
Cardiologists are constantly looking for better ways to identify and diagnose cardiovascular disease, as it is still the leading cause of death in the U.S., claiming nearly 500,000 lives annually. Digital X-ray technology has aided the cause, by providing cardiologists with the ability to see blood vessels with exceptional clarity and enabling them to locate and treat the coronary artery blockages that could potentially cause heart attacks or other cardiovascular damage. Digital technology also improves care of larger patients whose images generally are more difficult to see with conventional X-ray systems.
In digital X-rays, film is no longer used. Instead, an image with exceptional detail is created in an all-digital format invented by GE. The digital image can be manipulated and gives radiologists the ability to "stretch the gray scale" -- to emphasize contrasts. This allows a radiologist to catch abnormalities that wouldn't necessarily be as easy to detect on film. In addition, digital X-rays can be read immediately, as there is no need to wait for the image to "be developed."
GE spent 13 years and more than $100 million to develop the digital X-ray detector and is introducing that technology in new products on a continuing basis. The GE Innova(R) 2000 and Innova(R) 4100 are the first all-digital X-ray cardiovascular and interventional imaging systems designed to provide physicians with more information than ever before, resulting in better diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular disease. To learn more, visit geinnova.com
How Do Doctors Know When A Prescription Expires?
Many different types of medication lower blood pressure. They work in different ways, and some people take two or more to help them control their high blood pressure. When you look at a vial of prescription medicine or over-the-counter tablets, there is an expiration date with instructions to discard the medicine after that date. Drug potency and physical properties change over time in medicine cabinets. The rate that a pharmaceutical compound loses potency is directly proportional to time, humidity and temperature. With that in mind, the FDA (Food & Drug Administration) and ICH (International Conference on Harmonization of Technical Requirements for Registration of Pharmaceuticals for Human Use) have set up guidelines for pharmaceutical companies to "validate" their products.
How are these guidelines set?
Environmental chambers are used to produce long-term test conditions for the medications. The chambers are typically insulated environments that use a combination of refrigeration, heat stream injection, water evaporation and dehumidification to maintain constant conditions. By regulating the amount of water condensation, advanced sensors developed by GE directly measure the humidity, temperature and pressure within the environmental chambers. Scientists can now access the most accurate and reliable data and make educated decisions on when a medication should be discarded.
For more information on these announcements and other information about GE technology, please contact Jim Healy at (518) 387-6284 / [email protected] or Elizabeth Urban at (212) 931-6115 / [email protected].
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CONTACT:
Jim Healy, 518/387-6284
or
Elizabeth Urban, 212/931-6115