Daxor Announces Publication Of Clinical Study Involving Anemia And Heart Failure

Main Category: Cardiovascular / Cardiology
Also Included In: Clinical Trials / Drug Trials;  Blood / Hematology;  Heart Disease
Article Date: 21 Oct 2008 - 3:00 PDT

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Daxor Corporation (AMEX: DXR), a medical instrumentation and biotechnology company, announced the publication of a comparison study of the blood volume and anemia characteristics in heart failure patients in the October 2008 issue of The American Journal of Cardiology. In the study, heart failure patients were categorized on the basis of whether they had a normal ejection fraction versus a low ejection fraction. An ejection fraction is a measurement of how much blood is pumped out of the heart and is used by physicians to determine how well the heart is functioning. Significant controversy exists as to how these heart failure patients should be optimally treated.

Drs. Dmitry Abramov and Mathew Maurer et al. at Columbia University Medical Center utilized Daxor's Blood Volume Analyzer BVA-100 to study the blood volume and the presence of anemia in these heart failure patients. The main findings of the study were two-fold. 88% of the patients with a normal ejection fraction had red cell deficits (true anemia) compared to 59% of the patients with a decreased ejection fraction. Furthermore, in contrast to patients with a low ejection fraction, patients with a normal ejection fraction could be hypovolemic (low blood volume), normovolemic (normal blood volume), or hypervolemic (high blood volume). The authors noted that the standard test for anemia, the hemoglobin or hematocrit, correlated very poorly with a direct measurement of the red cell volume status of the patient. Only a direct blood volume measurement can accurately diagnose these various blood volume conditions.

This study confirms previous studies from Columbia University demonstrating that only a measured blood volume can accurately determine the volume status of a heart failure patient. At the present time very powerful blood volume altering medications are used to treat patients without physicians accurately knowing the patient's underlying blood volume status. There are approximately 5 million patients in the U.S. currently under treatment for heart failure.

The correct treatment of anemia in various other heart failure studies has shown improvements in patients' quality of life and exercise tolerance. This most recent study suggests that the current practice and standards to diagnose and treat anemia in heart failure patients can be dramatically improved with the inclusion of a blood volume measurement.

Daxor Corporation manufactures and markets the BVA-100, the only FDA-approved semi-automated Blood Volume Analyzer. The BVA-100 is used in conjunction with Volumex, Daxor's single use diagnostic kit. For more information regarding Daxor Corporation's Blood Volume Analyzer BVA-100, visit Daxor's website http://www.Daxor.com.

Daxor Corporation