Somanetics Corporation Announces 24 Clinical Abstracts on INVOS System Presented at Annual Pediatric Academic Societies National Conference

TROY, Mich., May 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Somanetics Corporation (Nasdaq: SMTS) announced today that its INVOS® System was featured in 24 posters and presentations at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual conference held in Vancouver, Canada May 1 - 4.  The findings demonstrate adoption and application of Somanetics' INVOS technology to improve patient care, clinical outcomes and safety of neonates.

"The number of INVOS System abstracts demonstrates the important role our technology is playing in advancing care of the most fragile patients in our healthcare system," said Bruce Barrett, Somanetics' president and chief executive officer.  "We continue to be pleased with the interest from clinicians since our introduction to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) area."

Notable topics included three abstracts showing a strong association between INVOS System cerebral oximetry values and today's commonly used predictors of neurodevelopmental outcomes such as brain MRI, EEG and mental and psychomotor development indices.  Identifying conditions associated with neurodevelopmental delays or other adverse outcomes is a high-priority for NICU departments so that interventions can begin early and be optimized for the patient.  Mona C. Toet and Petra M.A. Lemmers et al, of Wilhelmina Children's Hospital/University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands, built upon their earlier peer-reviewed publications on INVOS technology.  

The Lemmers' abstract showed cerebral regional oxygen saturation (rSO2) values on the first day of birth had a statistically significant correlation with the Mental and Pyschomotor Development Indices of the Bayley Scales of Infant Development.

Toet's abstract showed a strong association between cerebral rSO2 and brain injury identified on MRI and abnormal background patterns on conventional electroencephalogram (cEEG).

A third abstract by Dongli Song of Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose, California also found associations between rSO2 and brain MRI, cEEG and amplitude-integrated EEG (aEEG).  

Escalating or high cerebral rSO2 may be indicative of increased neuronal cellular damage resulting in decreased oxygen extraction, providing the NICU care team with concrete data to help assess and treat patients such as those with hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, an important cause of death and disability in infants.  

Patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) was another focus with abstracts from Stanford University in California, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Jersey, and the University of Milan in Italy.  A PDA allows abnormal blood flow to occur between two of the major arteries connected to the heart when the ductus arteriosus fails to close soon after birth.  PAS abstracts showed that the INVOS System can help identify oxygen deficits associated with hemodynamically significant PDAs and can provide information to help assist medical professionals in the treatment decision – medical management versus surgical ligation – by reflecting in real time whether the treatment administered was sufficient to maintain stable hemodynamics and adequate rSO2.

Additional papers addressed a range of cardiac and non-cardiac applications including using the INVOS System to help gauge feeding intolerance, the potential impact of sleep position on cerebral oxygenation and the impact of drugs.  Abstracts can be found on the PAS website at http://www.pas-meeting.org/2010Vancouver/Abstracts/default.asp

The INVOS System provides noninvasive monitoring of regional oxygen saturation of blood in the brain or other body tissues beneath its sensors in patients greater than 2.5 kilograms and trend monitoring of this parameter for individuals of any weight.  This reflects site-specific perfusion adequacy and – with multi-sensor monitoring – perfusion distribution across the brain and body. This provides a direct, real-time measure of blood oxygenation rather than time-delayed lab results or indirect systemic, whole body measures such as blood pressure and pulse oximetry which can remain normal when ischemia is occurring at the regional level.  In neonates, commonly monitored areas at risk for oxygen deprivation are the brain, abdomen/gut and kidney area.

About Somanetics

Somanetics Corporation (Nasdaq: SMTS) develops, manufactures and markets the INVOS® Cerebral/Somatic Oximeter.  The INVOS System is the only commercially-available cerebral/somatic oximeter with labeling for improved outcomes after surgery in patients above 2.5 kg.  The INVOS System is the clinical reference standard in cerebral/somatic oximetry, with a 12-year market track record, more than 750 clinical references and implementation at approximately 800 U.S. hospitals.  Somanetics also develops, manufactures and markets the Vital Sync™ System, a device that integrates data from bedside devices into a single system for enhanced patient assessment and decision making, data management and data storage.  Somanetics supports its customers through a direct U.S. sales force and clinical education team.  Covidien markets INVOS System products in Europe, Canada, the Middle East and South Africa and Edwards Lifesciences represents INVOS System products in Japan.  For more information visit www.somanetics.com.

SOURCE Somanetics Corporation