DENVER-- MAY 14, 2007 -- Three studies presented at last week's 28th Annual Meeting of the Heart Rhythm Society helped piece together the puzzle of sudden cardiac death (SCD). SCD kills half of all patients of heart disease, itself the nation's leading cause of disease-related death.

On Thursday, Dr. Georg Schmidt, Munich University of Technology, Germany, concluded Heart Rate Turbulence (HRT) to be a good predictor of death among heart attack survivors, especially when combined with Schmidt's patented Deceleration Capacity (DC) value. This combined value also identified patients in the presence of preserved left ventricular function, who would have been overlooked by today's generally accepted risk prediction standard, left ventricular ejection fraction.

"We reached this conclusion by carefully determining the level we'd consider 'high risk,'" said Schmidt. "It was the combination of HRT and DC measurements that allowed us to establish this tier and accurately determine which patients fell above or below the line."
Friday, University of Calgary Dr. Derek Exner's REFINE study revealed a single 24-hour Holter, capable of measuring HRT and TWA abnormalities, is not only a strong predictor of sudden cardiac death (SCD), but may reduce the number of unnecessary defibrillator implants by as much as 50%. SCD kills half of all patients of heart disease, itself the nation's leading cause of disease-related death.

"(SCD) is a huge problem worldwide. Three million people a year will die from it," said Exner. "We have had some markers that are fairly crude for identifying who's at risk but we've only identified 5% of those who have sudden death. This is a huge public health problem where we haven't had the techniques to identify those at risk."

REFINE concluded the most predictive non-invasive risk assessment to be the combined measurement of moderately impaired HRT and abnormal TWA level. These Holter-based measurements are currently available exclusively through the use of GE Healthcare's MARS Holter system using GE's Marquette Algorithms for HRT and TWA. Several trials are planned for the REFINE study's next step, prospective validation.

"If (validation happens), it would allow GE to provide a validating risk assessment tool that no one else currently has," said Exner. "It would be a huge advancement."

Dr. Tuomo Niemenen, Tampere, Finland, added his team's finding that a common stress test, using GE Healthcare's latest algorithm, can be useful in predicting SCD, even in those without a previous heart attack or symptoms of heart failure. As part of the Finnish Cardiovascular Study (FINCAVAS), Dr. Niemenen accepted more than 1,000 consecutive patients who had been prescribed an Electrocardiogram (ECG) clinical exercise test. The evidence concluded TWA measurements in the ECG are strong predictors of mortality, particularly of SCD, in a normally low risk population.

"These three major studies essentially reach the same conclusion," said Dr. Matthias Weber, cardiologist and Vice President of GE Healthcare Diagnostic Cardiology. "If they are validated, they will further strengthen GE Healthcare's position as the market leader and only provider of a complete suite of diagnostic cardiology tools."

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