by
Joan Trombetti, Writer | April 17, 2009
Dr. Dean A. Bramlet, the Director of the Cardiovascular Diagnostic Center of the Heart and Lipid Institute of Florida located in St. Petersburg, has acquired the innovative Shape-HF Cardiopulmonary Testing System. He is the first physician to receive this system, which was developed by Shape Medical Systems, Inc.
The Shape-HF Cardiopulmonary Testing System is a non-invasive medical device that assesses heart-lung interaction and ventilation in patients with chronic heart failure and other cardiopulmonary disease.
With FDA approval, Shape-HF is the first of its kind being introduced to cardiologists across the country. While ventilation testing devices have been used for several years to measure cardiopulmonary response to exercise, Shape-HF is the first device specifically designed for cardiology. Shape-HF is easy to use, easy on the patient, and provides clinically relevant data that is easy to understand, reproducible and immediately useful to a cardiologist.
Dr. Bramlet has over 30 years of experience treating patients and conducting clinical research in the area of heart failure and related disease--his clinical research in cardiovascular resynchronization conduction disturbances has advanced the use of Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy (CRT) in heart failure. Dr. Bramlet is a Diplomate of Clinical Lipidology, and an Assistant Consulting Professor of Medicine at Duke University.
Cardiologists know that measuring patient ventilation is the best method of assessing patient functional capacity, monitoring their response to therapy and predicting outcome.
According to Shape Medical Systems President and CEO Clarence Johnson, "Cost, logistics and the complexity of testing and data interpretation, as well as the significant level of patient discomfort associated with cardiopulmonary exercise testing has limited its utility and deprived physicians and their patients of much needed physiological information. Shape-HF overcomes these limitations. It provides objective data to the cardiologist right in the office or clinic. The test is easy on patients and the equipment is intuitive and easy to use."
About Shape Medical Systems Inc.
Shape Medical Systems Inc. is a privately held, St. Paul, Minnesota-based medical device company whose core technology lies in the development and commercialization of products for assessing heart/lung interaction and ventilation in chronic heart failure and other cardiopulmonary disease. Shape's clear mission is to develop products that increase the quality of patients' lives by helping doctors quantify shortness of breath, assess patient functional capacity, optimize drug, device and rehabilitation therapy, and monitor patient progress. Shape Medical Systems was founded in 2004 and received FDA market clearance for the Shape-HF Cardiopulmonary Testing System in April 2009. Shape-HF and testing protocols and applications are protected by patent 7,225,022 and other U.S. and foreign patents issued and pending.
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