Panasonic Unveils Relationship with Cenegenics Medical Institute Featuring CardioHealth Station

LAS VEGAS, Nov. 11, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Panasonic Healthcare Group and United Cardio Systems announced today that it has formed an alliance with Cenegenics Medical Institute to implement some of the latest technologies to support early heart disease detection and age management. Panasonic's CardioHealth® Station continues to get the attention of medical professionals who recognize that one of the best ways to reduce long-term healthcare costs is by applying technology to detect disease at an early stage.  The CardioHealth Station is designed to assist medical professionals in making a quick and valuable assessment of cardiovascular health and has been specifically cleared by the FDA for use in the automated acquisition of carotid intima media thickness, and risk assessment.

"Cenegenics' Age Management program will step up to the next level with the incorporation of the Panasonic CardioHealth Station," said John Adams, CEO of Cenegenics. "As a distributor of the CardioHealth Station, United Cardio Systems has committed to supply us with their cardiovascular risk assessment program which includes over $2 million dollars worth of the equipment and consulting services, with the expectation for this to increase twofold within twenty four months.  This commitment proves the tremendous success we have been experiencing with our age management program and the overwhelming interest among the public in taking preventative measures to ensure healthy aging, starting with cardiovascular risk assessments which utilize the Panasonic CardioHealth Station."

Recently published studies (ARIC & MESA)*1 have shown that there is valuable information revealed in the assessment of vascular health, and the risks of a cardiovascular event associated with those assessments. The ARIC*2 study, a recent multi-institution study, reveals that certain patients can be reclassified by looking at the carotid-intima media thickness and the presence of plaque build-up. Panasonic developed the CardioHealth Station, a much needed device that will help doctors quickly assess the thickness of the layer of fat in a patient's carotid artery. The carotid artery is the blood vessel branch that extends from the heart up the neck, and provides blood to the front of the face and the brain. This assessment used to be difficult and impractical to do on a widespread basis, but the CardioHealth Station makes it easier with an innovative automation technology.

The American Heart Association and 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.

"The recent Million Hearts national initiative from the Center for Disease Control has helped shed light on two of the leading causes of death in the United States, heart disease and stroke," said Steven Lynum, Director-Clinical Products, Panasonic Healthcare Group. "The efforts of medical professionals, like those at Cenegenics, will help to contribute in the campaign's initiative to prevent one million heart attacks and strokes over the next five years and Panasonic is proud to play a part in this national effort with our CardioHealth Station."

The CardioHealth Station has a built-in portable ultrasound system optimized to perform a non-invasive examination 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 using real-time B-mode imaging. The touchscreen keyboard allows the user to input various parameters related to traditional cardiovascular risk factors. A built in calculator provides risk scores commonly used in a variety of medical environments (Framingham Risk Score, PROCAM Health Check Score, Reynolds Risk Score, Risk score based on the SCORE Project). 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 Cenegenics relationship is just another example of how Panasonic plans to take a leadership role in the field of Personalized Preventive Medicine," said Joseph M. Taylor, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Panasonic Corporation of North America.  "The CardioHealth Station is an innovative example of how Panasonic is planning to work closely with the medical community to provide the tools to assist practitioners in achieving the goal of lowering healthcare costs through the early detection of disease."

*1 Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) and the ongoing Multiethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). Both studies are sponsored by the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute. More information about the ARIC study can be found at http://www.cscc.unc.edu/aric/; more information about the MESA study can be found at http://www.mesa-nhlbi.org

*2 ARIC study can be found at http://www.cscc.unc.edu/aric/

About Panasonic Corporation of North America

Based in Secaucus, NJ, Panasonic Corporation of North America provides a broad line of digital and other electronics products for consumer, business and industrial use. The company is the principal North American subsidiary of Osaka, Japan-based Panasonic Corporation (NYSE: PC), and the hub of Panasonic's U.S. branding, marketing, sales, service and R&D operations. Panasonic recently announced that it will relocate its North American headquarters to Newark, NJ in 2013 as part of is plans to reduce the size of its carbon emissions footprint. Information about Panasonic and its products is available at www.panasonic.com and its Full HD 3D site at www.panasonic.com/3D.  Additional company information for journalists is also available at www.panasonic.com/pressroom.

About the CardioHealth Trademark

CardioHealth is the registered trademark of CardioNexus Corporation.  Founded on January, 2009 in Houston Texas, CardioNexus focuses on early detection of cardiovascular disease using an innovative multi-modality approach. For more information, visit the company's website at www.cardionexus.com.

About Cenegenics Medical Institute

Founded in 1997, Cenegenics is the world's largest age management practice and the recognized leading authority in its field.  Affiliated with two medical schools, Cenegenics currently has more than 20,000 patients, 2,000 of which are physicians and their families, and 100 physician affiliates nationwide.  Cenegenics has 18 medical centers throughout the United States.  For more information visit http://www.cenegenics.com

About United Cardio Systems

A Castle Rock, CO based company that focuses on the prevention of disease by providing medical professionals with the capital equipment and medical resources to assist any practice in developing its own cardiovascular prevention program.

SOURCE Panasonic Corporation of North America