Health & Fitness
Health and Fitness
Health and Fitness
Mon, February 14, 2011Fri, February 11, 2011Thu, February 10, 2011Wed, February 9, 2011Tue, February 8, 2011Mon, February 7, 2011Sun, February 6, 2011Fri, February 4, 2011Thu, February 3, 2011Wed, February 2, 2011Tue, February 1, 2011Mon, January 31, 2011Sun, January 30, 2011Fri, January 28, 2011Thu, January 27, 2011Wed, January 26, 2011Tue, January 25, 2011Daxor Announces Publication of Research Article on Use of Blood Volume Analyzer (BVA-100) to Accurately Diagnose Anemia in Pati
Published in Health and Fitness on Friday, February 4th 2011 at 5:36 GMT by Market Wire
NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - February 4, 2011) - Daxor Corporation (
Anemia is typically diagnosed by measurement of hemoglobin levels in a standard blood test. However, in patients with heart failure the diagnosis of anemia is sometimes confounded by blood volume distortions: For example, many HFPEF patients show an expansion of plasma volume, which can lead to an overestimation of anemia based on standard blood tests. If patients with normal red blood cell volume are incorrectly diagnosed with anemia, it can lead to overuse of medications and an elevated red blood cell count -- which might predispose to other medical conditions, including stroke. Conversely, some HFPEF patients are chronically treated with diuretics, which contract their plasma volumes, and could thereby result in an underdiagnosis of anemia.
This research study used Daxor's Blood Volume Analyzer (BVA-100) to precisely measure the red blood cell volume in 60 patients with heart failure and a preserved ejection fraction. This was compared to the expected ideal red blood cell volume for each patient, based on their height and weight, and patients were categorized as anemic if their red blood cell volume was more than 10% below their ideal. This method of diagnosing anemia was then compared to the standard method of diagnosing anemia based on hemoglobin levels. It found that the two methods of diagnosing anemia led to significantly different results: Anemia defined by the standard hemoglobin test was present in 67% of subjects, and did not differ based on gender or race. In contrast, when direct blood volume measurement was used to diagnose anemia, anemia was found in only 35% of patients. This indicates that the standard hemoglobin blood test results in a two-fold overdiagnosis of anemia in this patient population. If patients with normal red blood cell volume are incorrectly diagnosed with anemia, it can lead to overuse of anemia medications and an elevated red cell count -- which may predispose to stroke and other medical conditions. Moreover, direct blood volume measurement identified ethnic differences in the prevalence of anemia, with Hispanic HFPEF patients showing more than twice the rate of anemia of Blacks or Whites. These findings may have important implications for the proper diagnosis and management of anemia in ethnic minorities with HFPEF.
The Principal Investigator for this research study is Mathew S. Maurer, MD from the Columbia University Medical Center. Additional investigators involved in this study include Bassel Noumi, MD, Sergio Teruya, MD, Say Salomon, MD, and Stephen Helmke, RDCS, MPH. Funding for this study was provided by a grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). These findings had been previously reported in preliminary form as a poster at the 14th annual Heart Failure Society of America annual meeting in September 2010. The published research article can be viewed on Daxor's website at [ www.daxor.com/pdfs/CHFVol17Iss1-Noumi-Blood-Volume-Measurements.pdf ].
Daxor Corporation manufactures and markets the BVA-100, a 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 [ www.Daxor.com ].
