New York, NY September 29, 2016 – Daxor Corporation, (NYSE MKT: DXR) an investment company with medical instrumentation and biotechnology operations, announces two new studies presented at the Heart Failure Society of America meeting this month highlighting risks for hospitalized heart failure patients detectable by direct blood volume measurement (Daxor BVA-100).
Michael Feldschuh, President and CEO of Daxor stated, “These new studies reinforce the outcomes presented earlier this year in the same arena showing the importance of direct blood volume analysis for improving heart failure results. It is only with the unique technology of Daxor’s BVA-100 and not with standard current tests that clinicians are able to precisely measure the volume derangements underlying heart failure, and these results highlight the importance of treating in the light of that information. Anemia and hypervolemia are known killers in this disease setting, yet in the absence of blood volume analysis no reliable test for quantifying either is available.”
Wayne L. Miller, MD, PhD (Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN) reported outcomes by red blood cell volume status in 50 hospitalized heart failure patients with decompensated chronic heart failure observationally assessed by blood volume analysis at discharge. Notably, red blood cell volume at discharge was markedly heterogeneous in this cohort, ranging from a deficit of -32% to an excess of +101% vs. calculated patient-specific ideal.
True anemia measured at discharge was associated with a high early risk of heart failure mortality or re-hospitalization in the Mayo Clinic study: 50% in the first 6 months. Importantly, true anemia at discharge associated with a high risk of poor outcomes was identifiable only by blood volume analysis. Specifically, a blood volume analysis measured red blood cell volume deficit at discharge was predictive of heart failure mortality or re-hospitalization. By contrast, conventional peripheral venous serum hemoglobin at discharge was not predictive of heart failure or re-hospitalization. Serum hemoglobin is well understood to be clinically unreliable in heart failure, as it is confounded by the plasma volume derangement characteristically observed in these patients, but it is widely referred to where blood volume analysis is unavailable.
Suggested Dr Miller: “Is true anemia an under-treated target that if addressed could result in better short- and long-term survival and reduced frequency of heart failure-related re-hospitalizations?”
A second dataset was presented by Christopher J. Droogan, DO, and colleagues (Lankenau Medical Center, Wynnewood, PA) reporting on the first study of hospitalized heart failure patients to receive a blood volume analysis at their institution. In the Lankenau analysis, true anemia at discharge was associated with a 62% 30-day readmissions rate. Persistent severe hypervolemia at discharge was associated with a 50% 30-day readmissions rate. Of those who experienced a 30-day readmission, 47% had had true anemia at discharge and an additional 41% persistent hypervolemia, thus 88% of those patients who experienced a 30-day readmission were identifiable as having had one of these two risk factors at discharge. By contrast, the 18 patients—38% of the study—who had had normal red blood cell volume status and were normovolemic or in less severe volume excess at the time of their discharge from hospital achieved a 30-day readmission rate of just 11%. Both hypervolemia and anemia are precisely quantifiable only with blood volume analysis in heart failure.
Dr. Droogan stated, “These results underline the need to identify and address anemia in the setting of hospitalized heart failure. Accurate quantification of red blood cell volume status will improve the risk-benefit of treatment and allow more proactive management of anemia in heart failure patients.”
Said Daxor’s Chief Scientific Officer, Dr Joseph Feldschuh, “The two new datasets presented at the Heart Failure Society of America this year confirm that true anemia matters in heart failure, yet it has been difficult to diagnose or treat in this population. Only blood volume analysis measures red blood cell volume status directly, accurately, and regardless of plasma derangement so that clinicians can flag patients at risk for poor outcomes early and individualize the treatment strategy with confidence.”
Michael Feldschuh, President and CEO of Daxor, added, “Realizing the potential of individualized care guided by blood volume analysis to meaningfully improve clinical and resource utilization outcomes in heart failure is even more urgent in the light of these results. I am excited about the ability of this unique technology to potentiate meaningful advances in care as we move beyond one-size-fits-all approaches to diverse patient needs in this heterogeneous disease area.”
Blood volume analysis is the only metric to deliver consistent accuracy in quantifying red blood cell volume status, regardless of plasma expansion or depletion or of body size and type, as well as enabling clinicians to measure total blood volume directly and with 98% accuracy. Volume overload is a hallmark of heart failure, and the accurate measurement and management of congestion is a core concern for heart failure physicians. Clinical signs and symptoms alone are well understood to be inadequately sensitive and specific in the evaluation of volume status; indirect metrics such as hemodynamic pressures, while informative in other respects, demonstrate poor correlation with measured total blood volume; and serum red blood cell measures are confounded by plasma derangement and thus have limited clinical utility in heart failure. Blood volume analysis is uniquely direct, swift, and accurate in measuring both total blood volume and red blood cell volume.
Daxor Corporation manufactures and markets the BVA-100 Blood Volume Analyzer, which is used in conjunction with Volumex, Daxor’s single-use diagnostic kit. For more information regarding BVA and the Daxor BVA-100, visit Daxor’s website at www.Daxor.com.
Daxor contact information: Michael Feldschuh, President and CEO, 212-330-8506, mfeldschuh@daxor.com; Lisa Quartley, Senior Vice President, Marketing and Commercial Development, 212-330-8518, lquartley@daxor.com.
