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Daxor Announces Publication of Research Article Demonstrating That Use of BVA-100 Data to Guide Shock Resuscitation Led to Sign

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^{Published in Health and Fitness on Monday, March 7th 2011 at 5:35 GMT by Market Wire}  

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - March 7, 2011) - Daxor Corporation (NYSE Amex: [ DXR ]), a medical instrumentation and biotechnology company, today announced the publication of a research article titled "A Prospective Randomized Trial Using Blood Volume Analysis in Addition to Pulmonary Artery Catheter, Compared with Pulmonary Artery Catheter Alone, to Guide Shock Resuscitation in Critically Ill Surgical Patients" in the medical journal Shock (2011; 35(3):220-8).

This study on intensive care unit patients examined whether use of blood volume data in addition to pulmonary artery catheter (PAC) data to guide resuscitation led to improved outcomes in critically ill surgical patients with septic shock, severe sepsis, severe respiratory failure and/or cardiovascular collapse. Shock is a life-threatening state in which organs and tissues are not receiving an adequate flow of blood, so that they become deprived of oxygen and so that waste products accumulate to toxic levels. 100 critically ill patients were randomized into either of two treatment arms: resuscitation decisions in the blood volume measurement group were based on both the blood volume as well as the PAC findings. In contrast, resuscitation decisions in the control group were based on PAC measurements alone. Patients in the control group demonstrated statistically significant untreated volume abnormalities and red blood cell deficiencies more often than patients in the blood volume measurement group (48% vs. 37% and 33% vs. 16%, respectively). This correlated with significantly greater mortality for patients in the control group (24% mortality) than for patients in the blood volume measurement group (8% mortality; P=0.03). These findings indicate that blood volume analysis permits more accurate assessment of patients' volume status and more precise fluid resuscitation and saves lives.

When the BVA-100 was not used in treatment, and physicians instead relied on indirect measures such as central hemodynamic pressures and hematocrit, there was a delay of 1-2 days in recognizing and treating patients' volume abnormalities. Thus, patients in the blood volume measurement group received earlier treatment of their volume disturbances, before the abnormalities were clinically manifested. This timeliness of treatment may be one of the factors contributing to better outcomes in the blood volume measurement group. The information provided by blood volume analysis led to a statistically significant change in treatment in 44% of cases relative to the treatment that would have been provided based on standard clinical assessment. Patients who were treated based on blood volume findings showed a clinically favorable response to therapy more often than in the control group (59% vs. 44%), which paralleled the improvement in mortality. This indicates that the use of blood volume measurement results in better patient outcomes and lower mortality.

This study was conducted at a single institution -- The Queen's Medical Center. Daxor is now planning to support a multicenter study which will assess whether these findings can be replicated in a number of hospitals across the country. Nevertheless, this single-site study is extremely important as it demonstrates that a commonly used surrogate marker for critical care patient resuscitation status -- pulmonary artery catheterization -- does not provide an accurate estimate of patients' blood volumes. Perhaps this is not surprising, as pulmonary artery catheterization does not directly measure volume, but instead measures hemodynamic pressure. Blood volume data is an extremely important factor in optimizing resuscitation of critically ill patients, and this information can be accurately obtained only by direct measurement of intravascular blood volume. Physicians who continue to rely on imprecise surrogate measures of volume status may under- or overtransfuse their patients with fluids and red blood cells, thereby doing harm to the patients they are trying to help. A fundamental goal of Daxor Corporation is to make direct blood volume measurement the standard of care in the treatment of critically ill patients in the intensive care unit.

The Principal Investigator for this research study is Mihae Yu, MD from the Queen's Medical Center in Honolulu, HI. Additional investigators involved in this study include Kevin Pei, MD, Sharon Moran, MD, Kurt D. Edwards, MD, Shirley Domingo, MD, Susan Steinemann, MD, Maimona Ghows, MD, Sharon Takiguchi, MD, Andrew Tan, MD, Fedor Lurie, MD and Danny Takanishi, Jr., MD. The published research article can be viewed on Daxor's website at: [ www.daxor.com/pdfs/yu_prospective_shock_2011.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 at: [ www.Daxor.com ].